Liurvnni 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  COMMUNITY 


THE 

LAND  AND  THE  COMMUNITY 

IN  THREE  BOOKS. 


BY   THE   REV. 

S.    W.    TH  ACRE  RAY, 

M.A.,    LL.D.    TRIN.   COLL.,   CANTAB. 


NEW  YORK: 
I).     APPLETON     &     CO. 

1889. 


COPYRIGHT,  1889, 
BY  S.  W.  THACKERAY. 


The  Rights  of  Translation  and  of  Reproduction  are  Reserved. 


PREFACE  TO  THE   SECOND  EDITION. 

BY  THE  RICH!    KKVKKKM) 

F.   D.   HUNTINGTON. 

BISHOP  OK  CF.N  THAI     M  •  \V   YORK. 

Whether  measured  by  the  gravity  of  its  intrinsic, 
economic  and  moral  claims,  by  tlie  arguments  of  its 
advocates,  or  by  its  considerable  progress  in  public 
favor,  the  theory  which  it  is  the  object  of  the  follow- 
ing treatise  to  support  deserves  to  be  understood. 
To  that  understanding  Mr.  Thackeray  appears  to  me 
to  contribute  a  valuable  help,  while  he  meets 
difficulties  and  objections  with  fairness  of  reasoning 
and  in  a  temperate  spirit.  To  one  class  of  thinkii-.g 
men  this  s.ientific  aspect  of  the  work  will  offer  the 
principal  attraction.  With  others,  and  they  ought 
not  to  be  few.  a  yet  deeper  and  larger  interest  i; 
pertain  to  the  subject  because  of  its  practical  relations 
to  the  Christian  religion.  Representatives  of  the 
Single  Tax  doctrine,  like  thi>.  author,  who  postulate 
their  social  system  on  the  primal  religious  ordinance 
that  the  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  not  man's,  and  is- 
held  in  trust  anywhere  by  a  nation  or  organized 
people,  cannot  separate  their  political  economy -from 
their  faith.  They  believe  that  the  remedies  which 
this  law  of  Divine  ownership  provides  go  down  to  the 
very  roots  of  the  manifold  evils  and  wrongs  which 
now  afflict,  threaten  and  endanger  society  to  an 
a'arming  degree-,  and  which  thev  believe  to 
symptoms  of  a  diseased  condition  rather  than  the 
disease  itself.  Were  it  otherwise,  were  the  question 
only  political  or  secular,  it  might  well  enough  be  K.  f i 
in  the  hands  of  laymen.  \or  is  it  a  question  of  sent;- 


ment,  but  of  what  is  right  in  law,  human  and  divine. 
Ministers  of  Christ  are  called  and  sent  for  the  building 
up  on  the  earth  of  a  kingdom  of  justice  and  love,  of 
righteousuess  and  peace,  which  is  the  Kingdom  of  the 
Son  of  Man.  In  that  Brotherhood  of  impartial  rights, 
equal  privilege  and  universal  freedom,  the  only  church 
of  which  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Founder  and  Master,  how 
would  it  strike  the  judgment  and  intuitions  of  men  if 
it  were  now  proposed  for  the  first  time,  private  titles 
to  land  being  yet  unknown,  to  cut  up  a  country  or 
continent  into  lots  large  or  small  and  dispose  of  the 
whole  landed  estate,  for  absolute  and  permam-nr 
possession,  to  favored  individuals  or  families,  irre- 
spective of  occupancy  or  use?  In  the  following  pages 
this  inquiry,  with  others  akin  to  it,  is  carried  back 
along  the  lines  of  authentic  history  and  into  the 
region  of  ethical  principles,  with  a  firm  and  evidently 
an  honest  hand. 

F.  D.  HCNTIM;TON. 
Syracuse,  Epiphany,  1890. 


PREFACE. 


IN  its  original  form  this  book  was  the  thesis  which, 
according  to  custom,  was  presented  by  the  Rev. 
William  Thackeray,  when  applying,  in  the  early  part 
of  this  year,  to  his  University  of  Cambridge  for  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  Somewhat  expanded, 
and  arranged  so  as  to  facilitate  reference,  it  is  now 
laid  before  the  general  public  in  a  form  which  I  trust 
will  give  it  a  large  circulation  and  enable  it  to  do  a 
most  useful  work. 

The  manner  in  which  Mr.  Thackeray  has  treated 
the  subject,  the  fulness  ^and  clearness  with  which  he 
has  dwelt  upon  its  historical  and  legal  aspects,  the 
attention  he  has  given  to  the  matter  of  compensation 
so  much  mooted  in  this  country,  and  the  religious 
feeling  and  conservative  disposition  which  he  has 
manifested  throughout,  seem  to  me  to  peculiarly 
adapt  this  book  to  English  thought,  and  especially  to 
the  thought  of  that  influential  section  of  the  English 
people  with  which,  as  a  graduate  of  one  of  the  great 
Universities  and  a  clergyman  of  the  Established 


VI  PREFACE. 

Church,  he  comes  into  closest  touch.  At  the  same 
time  its  directness  and  compactness,  and  an  arrange- 
ment which  facilitates  reference  and  adapts  it  to  the 
requirements  of  teaching,  specially  fit  it  to  the  needs 
of  the  time. 

That  the  relations  between  the  land  and  the 
community  constitute  the  burning  question  of  the 
immediate  future,  not  only  in  Great  Britain  but  in  all 
English-speaking  countries,  is  now  obvious.  The 
idea  that  all  men  are  equally  entitled  to  the  use  of 
the  natural  elements,  and  that  the  value  which 
attaches  to  land  with  the  growth  and  improvement  of 
the  community  constitutes  the  fund  from  which  public 
expenses  should  properly  be  met,  have  made  such 
great  progress  during  the  last  ten  years  that  they  are 
now  "  in  the  air."  The  habit  of  thought  which 
attached  to  land  itself  those  rights  of  indiviH  ial 
ownership  that  properly  attach  only  to  the  things 
which  human  labour  produces  from  land,  and  which 
ignorantly  assumed  that  private  property  in  land 
always  had  existed  and  always  must  exist,  have  now 
been  so  shaken  that  first  perceptions  of  the  equality 
of  right  to  the  use  of  the  fundamental  basis  of  all  life, 
the  indispensable  element  of  all  production,  are 
reasserting  their  sway,  and  ideas  which  a  little  while 
ago  would  have  seemed  to  the  great  majority,  even  of 
the  disinherited,  as  too  radical  for  sober  consideration, 
are  diffusing  themselves  rapidly,  steadily,  and  in  many 
cases  almost  unconsciously. 

To  give  force  and  definiteness  to  these  ideas  ;  to 
make  manifest  their  conformity  with  historical 


PREFACE.  Vll 

experience  and  religious  truth ;  to  put  them  in  such 
relation  that  the  recognition  of  common  rights  in  land 
may  strengthen,  not  weaken,  the  recognition  of 
individual  rights  in  the  products  of  labour ;  to  supply 
ready  answers  to  the  fallacious  arguments  by  which 
the  defenders  of  vested  wrongs  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  deniers  of  all  rights  of  property  on  the  other 
hand  are  endeavouring  to  confuse  the  essential 
distinction  between  what  God  created  and  what  man 
has  produced,  between  the  natural  reservoir  from 
which  human  labour  must  draw  and  the  things  which 
labour  may  for  awhile  withdraw  from  that  exhaustless 
reservoir  and  put  into  shapes  adapted  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  human  needs — there  is  needed  some  clear  and 
simple  exposition  of  essential  principles  and  im- 
portant facts. 

This  need  it  seems  to  me  Mr.  Thackeray  has  well 
supplied.  Without  going  over  all  the  ground  or 
entering  into  the  controversial  arguments  or  econo- 
mical reasoning  which  seemed  to  me  necessary  in 
Progress  and  Poverty,  he  has  reached  the  same 
conclusions.  First  unravelling  the  tangled  skein  of 
our  history  in  such  way  as  to  show  how  the  peoples 
of  the  English  speech,  losing  their  earlier  perceptions 
in  a  long  course  of  usurpation  and  tyranny  came  to 
regard  the  land  itself  as  subject  to  those  rights  of 
exclusive  ownership  which  properly  attach  only  to 
the  things  which  labour  draws  in  from  land,  Mr. 
Thackeray  has  then  set  forth  the  principles  that  ought 
to  govern  the  relations  between  the  community  and 
the  element  which  is  alike  necessary  to  all  its  members, 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

and  shown  how  easily  these  principles  may  be  applied 
in  the  conditions  of  the  present  day.  And  finally  he 
has  shown  how  such  application,  insuring  their  natural 
rights  to  all  and  conforming  the  most  fundamental 
and  important  of  all  social  adjustments  to  the 
supreme  law  of  justice,  would,  without  injury  to  any, 
open  the  way  to  a  civilization  as  much  higher  than 
that  which  nowr  exists  as  that  is  higher  than 
barbarism. 

I  should  like  to  commend  this  work,  which  I  hope 
will  soon  pass  into  a  popular  edition,  to  members  of 
school  boards  who  are  anxious  to  make  national 
education  a  means  of  diffusing  the  most  important 
of  all  knowledge  among  the  rising  generation,  to 
superintendents  and  managers  of  sunday  schools, 
and  especially  to  those  who  hope  for  the  conversion 
of  the  official  ministers  of  religion,  and  particularly 
the  bishops  and  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England,  to 
a  living  and  practical  faith  in  the  fatherhood  of  God 
and  the  brotherhood  of  men. 

The  authority  and  influence  of  a  body  that  ought 
to  be  foremost  in  the  endeavour  to  establish  justice 
and  of  those  who  ought  to  be  first  to  welcome  truth, 
have  been  so  often  used  to  bolster  vested  wrongs 
and  to  cover  up  the  truth  that  threatened  them,  that  to 
many  who  read  this  book,  it  will  be,  as  it  is  to  me,  a 
special  gratification  that  its  author  is  a  clergyman  of 
the  Church  of  England  and  an  honoured  graduate 
of  one  of  the  great  English  universities.  And  I 
fancy  there  will  be  few  who  will  dissent  from  Mr. 
Thackeray's  proposition  that  that  portion  of  the 


PREFACE.  IX 

public  fund  which  has  been  saved  from  private  ap- 
propriation for  the  support  of  the  church  and  the 
maintenance  of  institutions  of  learning  should 
under  the  salutary  conditions  which  he  suggests,  be 
continued  to  such  purposes.  This,  certainly,  will  be 
the  case  if  the  church  and  the  universities  shall  be 
found  to  contain  many  men  like  Mr.  Thackeray  who 
will  be  led  by  his  example  to  come  forth  on  the  side 
of  equal  justice  and  lend  their  influence  to  the  res- 
toration to  the  disinherited  millions  of  their  rights  in 
the  bounty  of  their  Creator. 

And  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  eloquent  appeal 
with  which  Mr.  Thackeray  closes  his  book  will  not 
long  be  without  some  response.  In  the  van  of  the 
American  movement  to  secure  to  the  whole  people 
equal  rights  in  land  are  to-day  men,  who  are 
large  owners  of  land  and  whose  selfish  interests 
would  seem  to  prompt  them  to  defend  existing  in- 
justice. I  have  faith  enough  in  human  nature  to 
think  that  some  such  men  must  ere  long  appear  in 
England.  As  discussion  goes  on,  as  thought  is 
aroused,  as  the  true  relation  between  men  and  the 
planet  on  which  for  a  brief  space  they  in  their  gener- 
ations are  called  to  dwell,  becomes  clearer  and 
clearer  in  the  public  mind,  those  who  would  be 
ashamed  to  claim  more  than  their  rightful  share  in 
anything  else  will  become  ashamed  to  claim  more 
than  their  rightful  share  in  the  earth.  And  even 
before  that  day  comes  it  is  not  likely  that  we  shall 
wait  in  vain  for  at  least  some  men  belonging  to  the 
class  which  seems  to  profit  by  the  general  wrong 


X  PREFACE. 

who  will  deem  it  their  highest  duty  and  find  it 
their  greatest  joy  to  do  their  utmost  for  the  overthrow 
of  that  wrong. 

But  no  matter  who  comes  or  who  holds  back  the 
good  cause  will  go  forward.  The  truths  that  Mr. 
Thackeray  has  in  this  book  set  forth  are  even  now 
so  deeply  planted  in  the  public  mind  and  public 
conscience  that  their  triumph  is  but  a  matter  of  time. 
All  any  individual  can  do  is  to  hasten  that  a  little  or 
a  little  to  retard  it.  Nay,  even  those  who  oppose  help 
forward  as  well  as  those  who  toil  to  advance.  Truth 
grows  clearer  by  opposition.  All  it  need  fear  is  to 
be  ignored.  And  this  book  itself  is  one  of  the  many 
indications  that  the  day  for  that  has  passed. 


HENRY  GEORGE. 


LONDON,/l(7y  1 8th,  1889. 


BOOK  I. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  LAND  TENURE 
IN  ENGLAND 

AS   GIVEN    BY   "  ONE    OF    THE   COMMUNITY." 


INDEX. 
CHAPTER  PARAGRAPHS 

I. — INTRODUCTION        .         .         .         .  i  to     7 

II. — THE  PR;E-FEUDAL  PERIOD          .  8  —  12 

III. — THE  FEUDAL  PERIOD    .         .        .         13  —  60 

Section  i.     Theory  of  the  Feudal  system         13  —  17 

„      ii.     Common  rights  under   the 

Feudal  system     .         .  18—25 

„      iii.   Encroachments  and  Enclo- 
sures      .         .         .         .         26  —  31 
„       iv.  Policy   of    the   great   land- 
owners        .         .         .  32  —  37 
„        v.  Chronological  outline  of 

legislation       .         .         .         38  —  50 
„       vi.  Results   of  the   system    to 

the  Commoners  .         .  51  —  60 

IV. — THE  POST-FEUDAL  PERIOD   .         .         61  —  84 
Section  i.      Changed   policy   of    great 

landowners  .         .  61  —  66 

„       ii.     System    of   Family   settle- 
ments    .         .         .         .         67  —  68 


Xll 


INDEX. 


CHAPTER 

Section   iii.  Absorption  of  small  estates 
„       iv.  Enclosure  Acts 
,,        v.  Why  permitted  . 
,,       vi.  Awakening   of    the   public 

mind  .... 
V. — THE   FUTURE   OF   LAND   TENURE 

IN  ENGLAND 

Section  i.      Mistaken  conceptions     . 
,,       ii.     Economic  teachings  . 
„       iii.   The  problem  to  be  solved 
,,       iv.   Our   present   position   and 

attitude         •  . 
VI. — THE  ALLEGORY 


PARAGRAPHS 

69  —  71 

72  —  77 
78  --  80 

81  --  84 

85  —  99 
85  —  89 
90  —  94 
95  —  98 

99 

IOO  112 


BOOK  II. 
ON    COMPENSATION. 

IN   REFERENCE   TO   THE    PROPOSED   RESUMPTION 
OF  LAND  BY  THE   COMMUNITY. 

To  whom  should  compensation  be  given  ? 
From  whom  is  it  due  ? 


INDEX. 

CHAPTER 

I. — INTRODUCTION  —  FUNDAMENTAL 

PRINCIPLES      .... 
II. — AXIOMS     AND    ASSUMPTIONS    IN 

REFERENCE  TO  LAND  . 
III. — HOW    ARE  THE   RIGHTS  OF   THE 

COMMUNITY   INFRINGED  UPON 

AT  PRESENT? 


PARAGRAPHS 


I  13 126 


127 129 


INDEX. 


Xlll 


CHAPTER  PARAGRAPHS 
IV. — HOW  MAY  THE  RIGHTS  OF  THE 
COMMUNITY    BE    RE-ASSERTKD 

AND  SECURED?        .         .         .  140 — 150 

V. — SOME   WORDS  AND  DEFINITIONS  151 — 168 

VI. — THE  COMMUNITY  AND  ITS  WANTS  169 — 177 
VII. — THE    DISTRIBUTION    OF    THE 

COMMUNITY  FUND       .  178 — 183 
VIII. — THE  DISPOSAL  OF  THE  NATIONAL 

APPORTIONMENT      .        ,         ,  184 — 196 
IX. — THE  DISPOSAL   OF   THE   APPOR- 
TIONMENT    FOR     THE     LOCAL 

COMMUNITIES       .        .         .  197 — 211 
X. — HOW     MAY     THE     CHANGE     BE 

EFFECTED?     ....  212 — 220 
XI. — THE    PRESERVATION    AND     RE- 
ADAPTATION  OF  THE   EXISTING 

PROVISIONS     FOR     COMMUNAL 

WANTS         ....  221 — 236 

XII. — BENEFICIAL  SOCIAL   EFFECTS  TO 

BE  PRODUCED  BY  THE  CHANGE        237 — 238 
Section  i.     Opening  up  of  the  land  to 

cultivators  and  occupiers         238 — 245 
„       ii.    The    elimination   and   con- 
version    of     undesirable 

elements    in    the    three 

classes    of    Landholders 

(247),  Capitalists   (248 — 

253)  and  Labourers  (254 

—275)        .         .  246—275 


XIV  INDEX. 

CHAPTER  PARAGRAPHS 

Section   iii.  The   diminution   and    pro- 
spective  abolition   of  all 

taxes  on  personal  property  2  7  6 — 2  85 
„       iv.  The  diminution  and  gradual 
abolition   of    involuntary 

poverty.           .         .        .  286 — 288 
XIII. — WHO     MIGHT    BE    INJURED     BY 

THE  CHANGE          .        .  289 — 308 
XIV. — WHO  SHOULD  BE  HELD  MORALLY 
RESPONSIBLE  TO  PROVIDE 

COMPENSATION,  IF  NEEDED  309 — 328 


BOOK  III. 
STATISTICS. 


BOOK  I. 

THE      HISTORY      OF     LAND 
TENURE    IN    ENGLAND. 

The  subject  being  treated  with  special 
reference  to  the  rights  and  interests  of  the 
community  as  distinct  from  the  individual 
interests  involved. 


CHAPTER  I. 


INTRODUCTION. 


1  IF  we  go  back  into  the  history  of  nations 
as  far  as  we  can,  in  order  to  ascertain  what  was 
the  primitive  form  of  Land  Tenure,  as  practised 
by  the  various  tribes  out  of  which  the  modern 
nations  of  Europe  have   been  evolved,  we  shall 
find  that  everywhere  there  existed  a  system  in 
which  the  rights  of  the  community  as  a  whole 
were    very    distinctly    recognised,    and    which 
formed,  in  fact,  the  basis  out  of  which  the  rights 
and  powers  of  individuals  over  the  land  were  sub- 
sequently slowly  differentiated.     Each  tribe  had 
its   own    territory,  which   it    jealously   guarded 
from   intrusion  by  others,  but  within  its  range 
all  members  of  the  community  had  equal  and 
unrestricted    rights    of    use.      Just   as    in    the 
present    day     each     nation    claims    a    special 
ownership  in  the  fisheries  within  a  certain   dis- 
tance of  its  coasts,  but  recognises  among  the 
inhabitants  of   these  coasts  a  common   right  to 
fish    in    the   waters   thus  reserved,  so   was   the 
same  principle  recognised  originally  with  regard 
to  the  land. 

2  When  the  tribe  was  in  due  time  subdivided 
into    villages,    and    tillage   was  begun,  it   soon 
seemed  to  become  necessary  to  appropriate  to 


Primitive 
customs  of  land 
tenure.  Equal 
rights  for  all 
members  of  the 
Community. 


Distinc  t  i  o  n 
between  arable 
and  pasture 
land. 


4  THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

each  family  a  portion  of   the  land   as   its   ex- 
clusive property.     Nevertheless  there  was  still 
maintained   a   community  of   rights    over    the 
forest   and   pasture,    which   remained   yet   un- 
reduced under  the  plough.     And  further,  for  a 
time,  the  principle  of  common  right   prevailed 
so   far  that   the  lots  assigned  for  culture  were 
changed   every  year.     In  the  next  stage,  how- 
ever, we  may  easily  see  that  the  community  of 
possession  would  be  limited  to  the  woods  and 
pasture  lands,   and  the  arable  lands  would  be 
possessed  in  permanence  by  each  family. 
Origin  of  pri-       3  fhe  necessity  for  some  degree  of  security 
ii^iand.PIConse^  °f  tenure  and  permanency  of  possession  would 
quent  diminu-  be  obvious,  in  order  to  enable  each  cultivator  to 
nfty  rigST" '~  reaP  the  reward  of  his  labour  on  his  particular 
patch  of  cultivated  soil.     Among  tribes  as   yet 
little   accustomed   to   habits  of  thought,  and,  of 
course,   innocent   of    the  existence   of    such   a 
science  as  political  economy,  the  natural  infer- 
ence would  be  that  this   could  only,  or   at  any 
rate  be  best  obtained,  by  admitting  to  him  who 
already   had   the   privilege    of    possession    the 
additional  right  of  ownership.     No  philosopher 
had  as  yet  arisen  in  the  world  to  show  how  the 
right   of    possession    by    the  individual,  with- 
out which  he  could  not  secure  the  fruits  of  his 
toil,    could    yet   be   made  perfectly  compatible 
with  the  right  of  ownership  remaining  vested  in 
the  community.     We  can  thus  see  how  naturally 
and    almost    insensibly  the  notion    of    private 
property  in    land  must   have  grown    up    even 
amongst  tribes  but  just  emerging  from  a  semi- 
savage  state.     It  becomes  therefore  a  question 
not  without  interest    and  importance  to  us  at 
the  present  day  to  trace  out  when,  in  what  way, 
and  to  what  extent,  as  the  centuries  have  rolled 


INTRODUCTION. 


5 


on,  andcivilization  has  been  developed  as  it  now 
exists,  those  rights  of  the  community  in  the  land, 
which  in  the  primitive  stage  were  so  generally 
and  amply  recognised  have  been  either  preserved 
and  enlarged,  curtailed  and  diminished,  ignored, 
and  in  the  end,  as  we  now  see,  almost  entirely 
lost. 

4  Before  entering,  however,  upon  the  histori- 
cal part  of  our  subject,  it  may  be  well  here  to 
remark  that  in    considering  the  rights  of   the 
community,   we   shall    need    to    carry   on    our 
enquiry  in  some  stages  along  two  parallel,  but 
almost    independent,   lines.     In     the    primitive 
condition  before  land  had  been  appropriated  to 
individuals  the  rights  of  different  members  of 
the  community,  though  but  small  and  poor  in 
value,   were   yet    practically   equal.     The   land 
belonged  to  the  whole  tribe  or  clan,  and  every 
member  may  be  said  to  have  had  an  equal  share 
in  its  use  and  enjoyment     This  condition,  how- 
ever rude  and    unsatisfactory  it  may  seem  in 
some  respects  as  compared  with  the  civilization 
of  later  times,  may  yet  be  regarded,  for  the  sake 
of   its    substantial  justice    to    all,    as    politically 
perfect.     Even  after  land  had  been  apportioned 
and  some  parts  of  it  become  private  property, 
so  long  as  every  family  was  provided  for  in  the 
apportionment,  this  condition  of  equality  was 
not  materially  infringed  upon. 

5  But  when  in  course  of  time  there  began  to 
arise,  as  we  shall  see  was  the  case  in  feudal  times, 
a  landed   and  also  a  practically  landless  class — 
the  one  holding  some  land  as  private  property, 
as  well  as  claiming  a  share  in  the  use  of  that 
which  remained  unappropriated,  the  other  having 
the  latter  only — all  this  became  changed.     We 
shall  therefore  have  to  pursue  our  enquiry,  as  we 


Our  enquiry 
must  be  con- 
ducted along 
two  lines.  The 
primitive  sys- 
tem politically 
perfect. 


Rise  of  a  lan- 
ded and  also  a 
landless  class. 
Freedom  of 
transfer  of  land. 


6  THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

have  said,  in  two  directions.  We  must  follow 
out  first  the  history  of  the  rights  of  the  com- 
munity as  it  related  to  that  large  and  constantly 
increasing  class  of  the  population  whose  rights 
in  the  land  related  only  to  that  ever-diminish- 
ing portion  of  it  which  remained  practically 
unappropriated.  Then  in  the  second  place  we 
must  enquire  how  it  fared  with  the  rights  of  that 
portion  of  the  community,  small  in  numbers,  but 
growing  greater  and  greater  in  power  and 
importance,  who  formed  the  class  of  land- 
owners— from  the  great  barons  who  by  the 
practice  of  sub-infeudation  were  able  to 
distribute  their  estates  among  their  dependents 
holding  portions  on  similar  conditions  of  tenure 
with  regard  to  the  barons  as  lords  to  those 
under  which  they  themselves  held  their  estates 
under  the  King'  — ,  from  the  great  barons,  I 
say,  downwards  to  the  yeomen  and  ymall  copy- 
holders who  held  and  cultivated  each  his  small 
plot  of  a  few  acres  by  permission  of  the  lord  of 
the  manor.  And  inasmuch  as  the  enjoyment 
of  those  rights  depended  largely  on  security  of 
possession  and  transmission,  without  risk  of 
forfeiture  either  to  a  superior  lord  or  to  the  King 
or  the  State,  it  follows  that  an  enquiry  into  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  landowning  class  will 
very  much  resolve  itself  into  an  enquiry  as  to 
how  far  they  enjoyed  a  freedom  of  transfer  of 
their  land. 
Grouping  of  Q  To  proceed  then.  The  history  of  England, 

periods  around  j    j       •         i  i  •   ,  r    i        i     > 

Feudal  system,  regarded  simply  as  a  history  of  land  tenure, 
groups  itself  naturally  into  three  periods,  the 
boundaries  of  which  are  determined  with  special 
reference  to  the  feudal  system  ;  so  that  if  we 
regard  the  Feudal  Period  beginning  with  the 
Norman  Conquest,  and  practically  closing  with 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

the  abolition  of  military  tenures  in  the  year 
1660,  when  Charles  II.  was  restored  to  his 
throne,  we  may  then  conveniently  refer  to  the 
period  preceding  A.D.  1066  as  the  Free-feudal, 
and  that  subsequent  to  1660,  extending  down  to 
our  own  times,  as  the  Post-feudal  period. 
7  Thus  we  have  in  chronological  order  :  ,  Division  into 

T     T^  T-  •    j  i         •  ,1        Hrae-feudal, 

I.  PR/E  -  FEUDAL    period,     embracing     the  Feudal  and 
Roman  occupation,  and  the  Saxon  and  Danish  Post-feudal 

periods. 

times. 

II.  FEUDAL  period,  extending   through    the 
reigns  of  the  Norman,  Plantagenet,  Tudor,  and 
Stuart  dynasties  to  the  close  of  the  Common- 
wealth. 

III.  POST-FEUDAL  period,  including  the  reigns 
of  the  remaining  Stuart  sovereigns  and  of  the 
present  royal  line. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  PR^i-FEUDAL  PERIOD. 
Roman  influ-       Q  IT  js  probable  that  when  the  Romans  came 

ence    on    land  •    j  T>    -,.    •      ,1  r          j  i 

system  not  per-  and  occupied  Britain  they  tound  some  such  cus- 
manent.  toms  prevailing  among  the  British  tribes  as  we 

have  already  described  as  existing  generally 
among  rude  and  savage  tribes  in  primitive  times. 
Now  the  Romans  had  for  centuries  been  accus- 
tomed to  regard  land  as  private  property,  and 
to  such  an  extent  had  this  system  been  carried, 
in  giving  rise  to  large  estates,  as  to  justify 
Pliny's  well-known  words,  "  latifundia  perdidere 
Italiam."  (Great  estates  have  ruined  Italy.) 

In  Britian,  however,  though  the  influence  of 
the  Roman  occupation  was  very  marked  in 
many  respects,  yet  in  this  particular  it  is  probable 
that  their  influence  did  not  long  survive  the 
departure  of  their  legions. 

9  The  Saxons  who  followed  them  brought 
with  them  their  own  customs  with  reference  to 
the  treatment  of  land,  and  inasmuch  as  those 
changes  in  Western  Europe  which  accompanied 
and  followed  the  breaking  up  of  the  Roman 
Empire  were  the  result  of  continual  war  and 
military  despotism,  it  is  no  wonder  that  there 
were  gradually  growing  up  on  the  Continent 
those  ideas  and  customs  as  to  land  which 
were  ultimately  crystallized  into  what  we  call 


Introduction 
of  Saxon  cus- 
toms. Origin 
of  feudal  sys- 
tem. 


THE   rFLE-FEUDAL   PERIOD.  9 

the  Feudal  System.  This  process  progressed, 
however,  much  more  rapidly  on  the  Continent 
than  in  England  ;  in  the  one  place  being  steadily 
evolved  through  the  march  of  events  ;  in  the 
other  not  taking  definite  root  until  it  had  been 
introduced  as  an  exotic  by  the  Norman  con- 
querors. 

10  The  system  of  land   tenure  in  England     The  origin  of 

•      .  if  •  •        i          r  ..Common 

during  early  Saxon  times  is  therefore  well  Law." 
worthy  of  notice,  not  merely  as  being  the 
earliest  of  which  we  have  certain  knowledge  in 
this  country,  but  because  it  doubtless  gave  rise 
to  much  of  that  original  law  and  custom  which 
has  remained  ever  since  familiar  to  us  as  our 
unwritten  code  of  COMMON  LAW. 

11  There   were    three    important    rights   in      Three  impor- 
reference  to  land  in  which  the  Englishman  of  landowners   in 
Saxon    times    possessed    advantage    over    his  Saxon  times, 
countryman   of    early   feudal   times.     He   pos- 
sessed the  right  of  alienation  or  transfer  by  gift  or 

sale  :  he  could  dispose  of  his  land  by  will ;  and 
he  could  transmit  it  by  inheritance  to  all  of  his 
children,  according  to  the  custom  of  Gavelkind. 
All  of  these  rights  were  abrogated  on  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Feudal  System.  It  is  easily  seen, 
then,  how  greatly  the  freedom  of  the  transfer 
of  land  was  curtailed  as  the  necessary  re- 
sult of  this  change  when  it  took  place.  And 
although  the  rights  of  the  community  in  the 
land  may  be  denied  or  suppressed  in  many 
other  ways  than  by  restricting  transfer,  yet  can 
they  scarcely  be  said  practically  to  exist  at 
all,  unless  there  be  at  least  some  moderate 
degree  of  freedom  of  transfer.  To  that 
extent  then  were  those  rights  of  the  com- 
munity injured,  when  these  three  rights  of 
the  landowners  were  lost. 


1C)         THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

Recognition  lg  There  was,  however,  in  those  times  a 
rfghts°mniFoicy-  much  more  direct  recognition  of  community 
land  and  Boc  rights  in  the  land  than  those  which  we  have 
referred  to  as  bound  up  with  the  rights  of  the 
individual  landowners.  Its  existence  is  evi- 
denced by  the  entries  in  the  Domesday  Book. 
There  was  the  FoLC-LAND,  or  land  of  the 
people,  which  embodied  "  the  principle  of  a 
direct  ownership  by  the  community,"  not  in 
theory  only,  but  to  some  extent  in  practice. 
The  rights  of  private  property  extended  only 
over  those  lands  which  were  granted  to  in- 
dividuals by  charter.  These  were  called  by  way 
of  distinction  BOC-LAND  (Book-land).  The  right 
of  the  King  to  make  grants  of  the  FOLC-LAND 
was  limited  at  that  period,  inasmuch  as  he  could 
do  so  only  with  the  consent  of  his  WlTAN. 
When  William  the  Conqueror  made  his  grants 
to  his  followers,  he  heeded  not  the  distinction 
between  FOLC-LAND  and  Boc-LAND  ;  neither 
did  he  seek  the  advice  or  permission  of  any, 
Council.  His  own  sole  will  was  sufficient 
authority  and  guide  for  him. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    FEUDAL   PERIOD. 

Section  \. 
13  LET  us  proceed  now  to  the  second  period      No     formal 


into  which  our  history  of  land  tenure  is  divided, 

that  of  the  Feudal  period,  commencing  with  the  by  the  Conque- 

Norman   Conquest.     The  Feudal  system  intro-  r°r-   ..  p*1™?'1 

i  i  i       TT  7-11-  i       /—  •    ««       °»  Salisbury  in 

duced  by  William  the  Conqueror  was  essentially  1086. 
military  in  character.  Although  it  was  not 
connected  with  the  system  of  land  tenure  which 
the  Normans  found  existing,  and  although  it 
did  in  fact  virtually  abrogate  all  previously 
existing  laws  and  customs,  yet  it  was  never 
formally  promulgated  as  a  new  system.  William 
issued  no  formal  new  code  of  laws.  He  did, 
however,  when  he  met  his  barons  in  Council,  at 
Salisbury,  in  1086,  require  them  all  to  acknow- 
ledge his  right  to  deal  with  the  land  absolutely 
as  his  own,  and  to  dispose  of  to  whomsoever 
and  on  whatsoever  conditions  he  pleased. 

14  Nevertheless,  in  theory  the  recognition  of     Theory      of 
the  rights  of  the  community  in  the  land  was  feudal  tenurc- 
more  clearly  and  definitely  marked  under  the 
new  system  than  ever  before.     The  King  was 
the    State,  and   summed  up  the  rights  of  the 
whole  people  in  himself.     As  such  he  was  the 
absolute  owner  of  all  the  lands  in  the  Kingdom. 


12 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


Explanation 


riage,  escheat, 


When  he  made  a  grant  of  land  to  one  of  his 
followers,  it  was  on  condition  that  the  grantee 
performed  certain  military  services,  called 
knight  service,  for  the  State,  that  is  for  the 
King  as  representing  the  State.  The  grantee  held 
his  land  conditionally,  not  absolutely.  At  first 
his  tenure  was  only  temporary,  at  the  will  of 
the  King,  or  from  year  to  year.  If  from  any 
cause  he  should  fail  or  be  unable  to  do  his  duty, 
his  right  might  be  considered  at  once  lapsed, 
and  the  lands  reverted  to  the  State,  or,  as  it  was 
said,  were  "  escheated."  On  the  death  of  the 
grantee  likewise  the  lands  returned  to  the 
grantor,  and  the  King,  on  behalf  of  the  State, 
might  select  and  appoint  a  new  grantee.  All 
those  rights  of  the  King  as  lord,  which  were 
afterwards  regarded  as  so  burdensome  and 
oppressive  by  the  landowners,  and  against  which 
they  carried  on  a  continuous  struggle  with  the 
power  of  the  crown  for  a  period  ot  about  six 
centuries,  until  they  were  finally  abolished  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  had  their  origin  in  this 
fundamental  idea  of  the  King  representing  the 
State,  that  is  the  whole  community  of  the 
people,  and  they  are  most  easily  explicable  by 
reference  to  it. 

15  If  the  King  determined  to  go  to  war,  his 
vassal  was  bound  to  serve  for  40  days  in  a  year 
or  perhaps  longer.  This  was  the  return  he  gave 
for  the  privilege  he  enjoyed  in  holding  the  land 
granted  to  him  by  the  King.  In  anticipation  of 
his  death  the  vassal  naturally  desired  that  his 
son  should  be  appointed  by  the  King  to  succeed 
him  in  his  estates.  The  King  consented,  but 
demanded  in  return  for  this  privilege  a  "  relief" 
or  "finer  Perhaps  the  heir  was  a  minor  (or  a 
female),  and  so  incompetent  for  the  time  being 


THE   FEUDAL  PERIOD.  13 

to  discharge  the  military  duties  due  from  him. 
In  that  case,  until  he  grew  up,  he  became  the 
King's  ward.  The  King  administered  the 
ward's  estate  and  put  the  revenues  into  the 
State  treasury.  This  was  his  right  of  "  Ward- 
s/up." When  the  heir  desired  to  marry,  the 
King  or  the  State  had  an  interest  in  seeing  that 
its  rights  in  the  land  were  in  no  way  prejudiced 
thereby.  And  so  the  King  could,  by  his  right 
of  "  Marriage"  either  dispose  of  his  ward  in 
marriage  to  whom  he  pleased  or  impose  a  "fine" 
if  his  ward  married  without  his  consent.  If,  as 
happened  in  later  times,  the  vassal  desired  to 
alienate  his  fee,  or  a  portion  of  it,  the  King 
demanded  a  "fine "  for  his  permission  in  the 
transaction.  If  his  vassal  died  without  heirs, 
the  lands  "  escheated  "  to  the  King  ;  and  should 
the  vassal,  instead  of  fighting  in  defence  of  his 
lord  the  King,  engage  in  rebellion  and  be  con- 
victed of  treason,  then  having  broken  the  con- 
dition on  which  the  State  granted  him  his  lands, 
they  were  of  course  deemed  tobe'^stly  forfeited 
to  the  State. 

16  Thus  we  see  that  reliefs  and  fines,  ward-      The    theory 

,  .  ,  .  1  ,    f     c  . .  not  so  much  at 

ship  and  marriage,  escheat  and  forfeiture  were  fauit> 
by  no  means  arbitrary  and  unjust,  when  we 
recognise  the  King  acting  in  the  capacity  of  the 
State,  and  representing  the  interests  and  rights 
of  the  whole  community  of  the  people.  It  was 
not  so  much  the  theory  that  was  at  fault ;  but 
rather  it  was  the  way  in  which  the  successive 
sovereigns  made  use  of  their  claims  as  repre- 
senting the  State  to  enable  them  to  carry  out 
their  own  selfish  purposes,  often  in  total  dis- 
regard of  what  might  be  beneficial  to  the 
community  which  they  governed  and  repre- 
sented. 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


G  r  a  d  u  a  i       ]*}  And  so  as  ^jme  went  On.  the  fundamental 

change  of  posi-    .,  r^t-T-ji  1  -i^r 

tion  of  parties  idea  of  the  reudal  system  was  lost  sight  of; 

concerned.  ancj  on  |-he  par|-  of  ^e  King;  the  endeavour  to 
guard  the  rights  of  the  community  degenerated 
into  a  mere  personal  struggle  to  maintain  his 
authority  over  his  unruly  barons,  and  often  had 
no  higher  object  than  to  replenish  his  depleted 
coffers  ;  while  on  the  part  of  the  landowners,  as 
was  seen  conspicuously  at  Runnymede,  they 
gradually  assumed  the  position  that  in  re- 
sisting the  exactions  and  oppressive  demands 
of  the  King,  and  endeavouring  to  rescue  their 
lands  more  and  more  from  his  control,  they 
were  acting  likewise  so  as  to  further  the  best 
interests  of  the  community  at  large.  Thus 
strangely  did  the  original  positions  of  the 
parties  become  inverted  and  reversed. 


Section  ii. 


The  manorial 
system. 


18  Let  us  suppose  ourselves  then,  living  in 
the  time  of  one  of  our  Norman  Kings,  when  the 
Feudal  system  has  been  established  and  the 
land  has  been  parcelled  out  in  great  estates  to 
tenants-in-capite  holding  their  fiefs  directly 
from  the  King.  The  first  thing  which  such  a 
tenant  does  on  taking  possession  of  his  fee,  is  to 
divide  or  cut  up  his  estate  into  portions,  each 
one  embracing  a  considerable  area,  and  in- 
cluding, perhaps,  many  separate  villages  and 
townships,  and  these  he  sub-infeudates,  as  it 
was  called,  to  his  followers  on  similar  conditions 
of  tenure  and  service  to  those  he  is  himself 
under  obligation  to  the  King.  Such  a  portion  of 
an  estate  became  known  as  a  "manor," and  the 
Sub-infcuda-  owner  was  styled  "  lord  of  the  manor." 
tion  ended  by  19  We  may  note  that  this  process  of  sub-in- 


Quia  Emptorus 
in  1290. 


feudation  was  permitted  or  connived  at  by  the 


THE   FEUDAL   PERIOD.  I  5 

Norman  Kings  as  far  down  as  the  year  1290, 
when  by  the  Statute  of  Quia  Emptores  it  was 
thenceforth  forbidden  as  contrary  to  the  interests 
of  the  King.  After  that  year  no  more  new 
manors  could  be  created.  By  that  time,  how- 
ever, the  manorial  system  had  become  well 
defined  and  fixed  under  the  Norman  lawyers, 
and  has  remained  ever  since  the  legal  basis  of 
property  in  land. 

20  What  kind  of  system,  we  may  ask  then,     The  "mark" 
did  the  lord  of  the  manor  find  in  vogue  amongst  njty;     itTTvi- 
the  people    who   became   his    dependents,  and  sions. 

who  formed  one  of  these  village  communities  ? 
It  has  been  thus  described  : 

The  "  MARK "  or  territory  occupied  by  the 
community  was  divided  into  the  following  parts  : 

(i.)  The  TOWNSHIP,  where  were  the  houses 
held  by  heads  of  families  in  severalty. 

(2.)  The  ARABLE  LAND  divided  into  several 
plots,  but  subject  to  regulations  as  to  common 
cultivation — the  most  usual  of  which  is  the 
three-field  system ;  the  land  was  to  lie  fallow 
every  third  year,  and  the  whole  community  had 
rights  of  pasturage  on  the  fallow  portion,  and 
on  the  stubble  of  the  fields  under  crop  at 
certain  portions  of  the  year  between  harvest 
and  the  following  seed-time. 

(3.)  The  MEADOW-LAND,  which  in  like 
manner  was  common  for  a  period  after  the  hay 
harvest,  and  was  afterwards  fenced  off  in 
separate  allotments  for  the  new  crop. 

(4.)  The  COMMON  or  WASTE-LAND  not 
appropriated  for  cultivation,  and  over  which 
every  member  of  the  community  had  rights  of 
pasturage,  wood-cutting,  etc. 

21  On  some  such  system  as  thus  described      Freeholders 
the   lord  of  the    manor   engrafted  his  new  ar-  holders.0 


l6         THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

rangements.  Out  of  the  lands  which  had  been 
granted  to  him,  the  lord  would  grant  certain 
portions  to  free  tenants  on  condition  of  certain 
rents  and  services,  and  these  are  called  \h&  free- 
holders of  the  manor.  The  lord's  own  portion 
would  be  cultivated  by  villeins  or  serfs  attached 
to  the  soil,  and  these  ultimately  developed  into 
the  important  class  of  copyJwlders.  There  would 
remain  in  addition  the  uncultivated  and  unap- 
propriated land,  over  which  the  freeholders  had 
certain  rights  of  common,  supposed  to  be  inci- 
dent to  their  original  grant. 

The "  Comt  22  Every  lord  of  the  manor  held  his 
changVof  the-  COURT  BARON  in  which  he  sat  in  the  assembly 
ory  as  to  the  of  his  freeholders  to  determine  questions  in  dis- 
nd'  pute  according  to  the  Common  Law,  and  a  new 
legal  theory  comes  to  be  devised  in  accordance 
with  the  new  system.  The  new  theory  supposes 
that  the  whole  organization  is  created  by- 
grant  ;  the  lord  is  the  owner  of  all  the  soil,  and 
the  rights  of  tenants  are  merely  such  as  he  has 
granted  to  them  out  of  consideration  for  rents 
and  services  reserved  to  himself.  Whatever  has 
not  been  so  granted  belongs  as  a  matter  of 
course  to  the  lord.  Thus,  what  is  called  "  the 
lord's  waste,"  now  represents  what  was  once  the 
common  waste  of  the  community  not  appropri- 
ated in  severalty,  but  used  by  all  in  common  for 
pasturage,  &c.  The  rights  of  common  which 
still  survived  came  to  be  regarded  in  a  different 
light ;  they  are  now  of  the  nature  of  servitudes 
or  exceptional  privileges  granted  over  land  by 
its  real  owner  the  lord  to  his  tenants,  or  perhaps 
only  to  the  more  favoured  or  more  powerful  ones 
among  them. 

Rights  of       23   It  maybe  well  here  to  note  what  were 
fine™.™  these  rights  of  commons.      The  most  important 


THE   FEUDAL   PERIOD. 


right  of  common  is  COMMON  OF  PASTURE. 
Some  lands  were  subject  to  this  common  of 
pasture  during  certain  portions  of  the  year  only 
— e.g.,  in  the  case  of  Lammas-lands  from  the  ist 
of  August  for  eight  months,  after  which  they 
are  held  in  severalty.  Such  lands  are  said  to  be 
cominonable.  Then  there  is  COMMON  OF 
PlSCARY  or  the  right  of  fishing  in  a  particular 
stream  ;  Common  of  ESTOVERS  is  the  right  of 
cutting  wood  on  another's  estate  ;  Common  of 
TURBARY  is  the  right  of  cutting  turf.  In  some 
manors  there  was  also  a  right  of  digging  and 
taking  coals,  minerals,  &c. 

24  These    rights    of    common    needed    for 
purposes  of  law  to  be  further  defined.     They 
were  appendant  when  inseparably  annexed  to 
the  land  ;    appurtenant,  when  they  belonged  to 
it,  but  not  of  necessity.    It  was  common  in  gross 
when  the  right  was  annexed  to  the  person  of  an 
individual  and  not  attached  to  the  land  ;    and  it 
was  common  of  vicinage  when  it  existed  between 
the   inhabitants    of    two    adjacent    townships. 
Subject  to  all  these  rights  of  common,  every- 
thing belonged  to  the  lord  of  the  manor. 

25  This  unaccustomed  view  as  to  the  origin 
and  extent  of  their    common    rights,  as  it  was 
officially  and  judicially  expounded  to   them  by 
the  lord  of  the  manor  in  his  Court  Baron,  could 
scarcely  have  been  altogether  acceptable  to  the 
common   people.     But   the   Statute   of  Merton 
passed   in  1235  gave  full  legal  sanction  to  what 
had  previously  been  regarded  as  an  encroach- 
ment on  the  rights  of  the  commoners.     It  gave 
relief  (as  it  was  called)  to  the  lords  whose  efforts 
to  improve  their  wastes  had  been  frustrated  by 
their  opposition.     The   lord   was  held     blame- 
less if  sufficient  pasture  with  ingress  and  egress 


Legal  distinc- 
tions of  "com- 
mons." 


E  n  c  r  o  a  ch- 
ments  sanction- 
ed by  Statute  of 
Merton  in  1235. 
Extended  fur- 
ther by  Statute 
of  Westminster 
the  Second  in 
1285.  A  bane- 
ful precedent. 


1  8 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


had  been  provided  for  the  commoners.  And 
the  Statute  of  Westminster  the  Second,  passed 
in  1285,  still  further  extended  this  legal  right  of 
the  lords.  The  consequences  of  this  legislation 
were,  as  we  can  now  well  perceive,  much  to  be 
lamented  ;  for  in  later  times,  suceeding  gene- 
rations of  landowners  were  by  no  means  slow 
to  accept  and  enlarge  upon  the  immunities 
offered  by  so  baneful  and  dangerous  a  precedent. 

Section    iii. 

Yeomen  or  2Q  From  about  the  middle  of  the  I4th  cen- 
tury  there  were  two  principal  classes  of 
property  existing  in  England,  freeJwlds  held  in 
general  directly  from  the  Crown,  and  copyholds, 
held  of  a  lord  of  the  manor  ;  but  both  of  them  had 
an  indefeasible  title  subject  to  trifling  services 
ascertained  by  custom  or  by  statute.  It  would 
seem  that  in  these  two  forms  a  very  large 
number  of  those  whom  we  should  now  call  yeo- 
men or  peasant  proprietors  were  established 
throughout  the  country.  But  in  addition  to 
these,  there  were  on  the  large  estates  a  great 
number  of  those  whom  we  should  now  properly 
call  tenants-at-will,  renting  lands  of  the  lord  and 
not  established  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to 
have  acquired  the  status  of  copyholders. 

deman  ^    ^    WaS    ab°Ut    this    Period    tnat     English 

Conversion^  of  wool  was  found  to  be  peculiarly  well  adapted  to 
tillage  into  pas-  the  use  of  weavers  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  it 
brought  a  high  price.  This  led  the  owners  of 
large  estates  to  substitute  pasturage  for  tillage, 
and  in  consequence  many  of  the  cultivating 
tenants-at-will  were  evicted.  Hence  com- 
plaints arose  similar  to  those  excited  in  our 
own  times  by  clearings  in  Ireland  and  in  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland  for  the  purpose  of  sub- 


THE   FEUDAL    PERIOD. 


stituting   sheep  farming  and   deer  stalking    in 
place  of  husbandry  by  cottars  and  crofters. 

28  During    the     I5th  century,   probably  for 
the  same    reason,  the  extensive    wastes  which 
covered  a  large  part  of  England  began  to  be  en- 
closed to  the  consequent  disturbance  of  numbers 
of  squatters  who  had   settled  on   them.     These 
causes,  combining  later  with  the  breaking  up  of 
the  monasteries,  and  the  absorption  of  the  Church 
lands  into  the  estates  of  adjoining  landowners, 
gave  rise  to  much   disorder  and  misery.     Un- 
doubtedly the  ultimate  result  was  a  considerable 
increase    in    magnitude     of  the    larger  estates 
and  farms,  gained  by  a  proportionate  decrease 
in  the  number  of  those  of  smaller  size. 

From  this  period  dates  the  beginning  of  the 
diminution  of  the  class  of  yeomen, — the  theme 
of  lamentation  with  economists  and  historians 
down  to  our  own  times. 

29  When  we  come  to  the   i6th  century,  we 
find  that  the  landlords,  no  longer  requiring  the 
military   services   of    their    free    tenants,   and 
having   almost  lost   the    customary   service   of 
their  tenants  in   villeinage   began   now  with  a 
definite  and  settled  purpose  to  take  upon  them- 
selves  to    appropriate    large   tracts   of    waste, 
the  first   sanction  to   this   policy   of  encroach- 
ment  having  been  given,  as   we  have  already 
remarked,  by  the  Statute  of  Merton.     They  did 
so,  because  grazing  land  yielded  them  a  larger 
rental  than  arable.     This  policy  was  pursued  in 
defiance  of  the  rights  of  the  commoners,  and  it 
would  doubtless  have  been  carried  out  relent- 
lessly  to   the  full  extent  had    they  been  able. 
It  was,  however,  productive  of  so  much  misery 
that  many   statutes   were  passed  against  these 
enclosures    in    the   reigns   of   Henrv   VII.   and 


Enclo  s  u  r  e  s 
begun.  Absorp- 
tion of  Church 
lands  by  disso- 
lution of  mon- 
asteries. In- 
creased growth 
of  large  estates. 
Diminution  of 
Yeomen  class. 


Settled  pur- 
pose of  land- 
lords to  ' '  en- 
close. ' '  Conse- 
quent misery 
and  distress  in 
i6th  century. 
Insurrection  in 
1549.  Pros- 
perity of  great 
landowners. 


20    THE  LAND  AND  THE  COMMUNITY. 

Henry  VIII.  Latimer  denounced  the  nobles 
before  the  King  as  "  enclosers,  graziers,  and 
rent  raisers."  The  formidable  insurrection  in 
1549  was  directed  against  these  new  fences  and 
enclosures.  The  gradual  divorce  of  the  English 
peasant  from  the  soil,  which  degraded  him  into 
the  day-labourer,  and  was  the  manifest  origin 
of  pauperism,  coincided  with  increasing  pros- 
perity and  freedom  enjoyed  by  the  higher 
orders  of  the  agricultural  community.  For  at 
this  time,  it  is  to  be  noted,  "  Common 
recoveries,"  received  legal  sanction  as  a  method 
of  breaking  through  entails,  and  thus  brought 
estates  into  the  markets.  So  also  "  fines " 
authorised  the  tenant-in-tail  to  bar  his  own 
issue,  thus  increasing  the  power  and  control 
of  each  individual  landlord  over  his  estate. 
Almost  unre-  3Q  During  the  period  between  the  introduc- 
shipteof0Tanned-  tion  of  these  methods  for  disentailing  and  the 
lords  at  this  institution  of  family  settlements  in  the  i/th 
century,  the  ownership  of  landed  property  was 
more  absolute,  and  the  disposition  of  it  less 
restricted  than  it  had  been  for  two  centuries 
before,  or  than  it  has  since  become.  Each 
tenant-in-tail  by  levying  a  fine  or  suffering  a 
common  recovery,  converted  his  estate  into  a 
fee  simple,  and  as  the  use  of  life-estates  in  tying 
up  land  was  not  yet  discovered,  the  head  of  the 
family  was  usually  in  this  favourable  position 
for  acquiring  full  control  over  his  land.  Hence 
there  followed  the  rapid  growth  of  the  English 
gentry  under  the  Tudors  and  Stuarts,  arising 
from  these  two  causes,  the  limitation  of  entails 
and  the  freedom  of  alienation. 

The  genera-  31  Unfortunately  the  prosperity  of  the  land- 
Jsm*  °andaUpoor  owners  was  not  accompanied  by  a  corresponding 
laws.  Deteri-  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the  peasantry. 


THE   FEUDAL   PERIOD.  21 

On   the  contrary,  it  was  very  largely  obtained  oration  of  the 

,    ,  i  Jf '   ,,      .  CJ  ,  condition  of  the 

at  the  expense  of  their  comfort  and  well-being,  peasantry. 
This  was  the  period  when  pauperism  was  gene- 
rated in  England  to  an  alarming  extent,  and  the 
poor  laws  of  Elizabeth  furnish  the  evidence  that 
it  had  now  become  necessary  to  formulate  the 
measures  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  into  a  definite 
system.  They  mark  the  commencement  of  that 
degeneration  and  steady  deterioration  in  the 
condition  of  the  peasant  which,  as  we  now  look 
back,  can  be  seen  to  be  the  natural  and  inevit- 
able result  of  his  being  divorced  from  his  share 
in  the  possession  of  the  soil,  and  which  has 
since  created  so  wide  a  contrast  between  the 
condition  of  the  agricultural  labourer  and  his 
landlord  in  the  present  day. 

Section  iv. 

32  If  we   turn    back   now  to  examine   how     The 
those    rights   of    the   whole    community   fared  JjJ^  of 
which  were  supposed  to  be  bound  up  with  the  nobles  to  main- 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  sovereign  on  the  one  oT  Aehcomrnu- 
hand,  and  with  those  of  the  landowners  on  the  nity  systemati- 
other,  we    cannot   fail   to   perceive   how,   while  cally  >&nored- 
recognised  in  theory  by  first  one  and  then  the 
other,   they   were,   nevertheless,    systematically 
ignored  in  practice  by  both.     To  some  extent, 
perhaps,  human  nature  being  such  as  it  is,  and 
the  exigencies  of  the  times  such  as  we  know 
they   were,   this   was  to   be   expected.     In  the 
struggles  of  might  against  might,  the  question 
of  rights  has  not  unusually  been  obscured  and 
forgotten,  and  more  especially  is  this  likely  to 
happen  when  the  rights  at  stake  are  those  of 
third    parties.      The    legal   doctrine  of    Trusts 
upon   Uses  was  invented    for   quite  a  different 
purpose  than  to  teach  the  Crown  and  the  nobles 


22         THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

that  they  held  the  lands  of  the  country  in  trust 
for  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  the  whole  people 
as  beneficiaries. 
Explanation       33  The  sovereign  acknowledged  himself  as 

of  the  cause  of  ..          .,        c?.  .,  ,     ,  ., 

this  neglect  representing  the  btate,  the  whole  community; 
but  it  was  rather  with  the  selfish  object  of 
bolstering  up  his  own  personal  authority,  and  to 
furnish  a  plausible  reason  which  would  render 
it  somewhat  less  arbitrary  and  less  nakedly 
absolute  than  it  might  otherwise  have  appeared 
to  be.  It  could  not,  however,  long  continue 
without  its  despotic  character  becoming  pain- 
fully obtrusive  and  manifest  to  all.  The  nobles 
and  landowners,  on  the  other  hand,  having 
been  denied  by  the  Conqueror  all  that  participa- 
tion in  disposing  of  the  land  which,  on  the  Con- 
tinent, made  each  lord  a  petty  sovereign  and 
tyrant,  were  consequently  gradually  drawn  into 
sympathy  with  the  demands  of  the  people,  as 
Magna  Charta  soon  nobly  attested,  and  from 
that  time  it  may  be  said  that  much  of  the  real 
sting  of  feudalism  ceased  to  be  personally  felt 
by  the  English  commonalty.  Nevertheless, 
when  the  nobles,  in  turn,  came  to  deal  with 
their  dependents,  in  matters  where  the  Crown 
was  not  directly  concerned,  they  were,  as  we 
have  already  recounted,  as  openly  regardless  of 
the  rights  of  the  commoners,  when  their  own 
personal  interests  tempted  them  to  be  regardless, 
as  the  Crown  often  shewed  a  desire  to  be,  in 
respect  of  the  rights  of  the  nobles. 
The  struggle  34.  We  may  then,  presently,  proceed  to  cnu- 

of  six  centuries  ,  i        •       : .  ,  J.      ,  .  ,  . . 

between      the  merate  the  incidents  of  this  struggle,  extending 
crown        and  over  the  six  centuries  of  Feudal  times.     During 
this  whole  period  we  see  the  landowners  per- 
petually  striving,  by  unremitting  purpose  and 
persevering  efforts,  but  yet  with  only  an  ever- 


THE   FEUDAL   PERIOD. 


varying  success,  to  free  themselves  from  the 
restraints  which  limited  their  power  over  their 
land  ;  progressing  steadily,  as  opportunity  fa- 
voured, when  the  sceptre  was  held  in  weak 
hands,  and  being  rudely  thrust  back  when  it 
had  passed  into  more  vigorous  grasp ;  until  at 
last,  aided  by  length  of  time  and  change  of  cir- 
cumstances, as  the  twilight  of  the  Middle  Ages 
passed  into  the  dawn  of  Modern  times,  they 
were  gradually  enabled  to  unloose  the  rusty 
fetters,  and  relax  the  grip  of  that  Feudal  system 
which  had  held  them  as  in  a  vice,  ever  since 
the  yoke  of  the  Conqueror  had  been  fixed  on 
their  necks. 

35  And  when    the   struggle   was   over,  and 
the  smoke,  and  heat,  and  din  of  the  combat  had 
slowly  subsided,  so  that   it   became  possible   to 
look  around  and  see  where  each  stood,  it  became 
evident   that  the  King   and   the  landowners  of 
England   in  the  days  of  Charles    II.   occupied 
relatively  the  same  positions  as  they  had  done 
six  centuries  before,  in  the  days  of  Edward  the 
Confessor    and   their    Saxon   forefathers.     The 
landowners  had  recovered  from  the  Crown  sub- 
stantially all  the  rights  that  their    predecessors 
had  once  possessed,  and  subsequently  lost ;  but 
little  or  nothing  more. 

36  Very  different  however  was  the  case  with 
the  common  people.  The  rights  in  the  land  which 
had  made  the  commoners  for  many  generations 
after   the   Conquest   recall  and   sigh  with  fond 
regret  over,  the  laws  and  institutions  which  had 
governed  the  tenure  of  land  from  the  days  of 
Alfred  the  Great  down   to  the  time  of  the  good 
King  Edward,  had  disappeared  not  only  from 
the  Statute  Book,  but  even  from  men's  memories 
and  had  faded  away  utterly  in  the  mists  of  the 


Its  result. 
Both  parties 
reverted  to 
their  relative 
positions  in 
Saxon  times. 


The  loss  of 
community 
rights.  The 
transition  from 
equality  to 
great  inequality 
of  rights  in  the 
land. 


24          THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

past.  The  village  MARK  had  been  swallowed 
up  in  the  lord's  MANOR  ;  the  "  common  waste  " 
had  been  included,  or  was  in  rapid  process  of 
inclusion,  in  the  lord's  enclosures  :  the  areas  of 
the  "  commonable  lands  "  had  been  steadily  en- 
croached upon,  and  the  "  rights  of  common  " 
were  fast  ceasing  to  be  either  recognised  or 
respected.  The  transition  from  the  primitive 
times,  when  the  equal  rights  of  all  in  the  land 
were  not  only  acknowledged,  but  their  justice 
never  questioned,  to  the  times  when  a  few  land- 
owners owned  all  the  land  absolutely  and  in 
severalty,  and  the  great  mass  of  the  community 
owned  none  even  in  commonalty,  was  now 
fairly  entered  upon,  and  needed  only  in  the 
subsequent  centuries  the  convenient  oppor- 
tunity and  the  plausible  excuse  to  enable  it  to  be 
carried  out  to  its  full  development  whenever  the 
wakefulness  of  the  public  conscience  could  be 
sufficiently  lulled  into  slumber.  Enough  has  re- 
mained it  is  true,  even  to  this  day,  to  enable  the 
antiquarian  of  later  times  to  detect  the  evidences 
and  satisfy  himself  of  the  existence  of  a  juster 
and  more  natural  system  in  long  bygone  days  ; 
but  scarcely  more. 
A  beginning  37  Tne  boa-constrictor  glides  along  in  the 

made     m     the    ,    ,,  1it  .,  1-11  •* 

absorption    of  tall   grass   stealthily  and    noiselessly   as    it    ap- 
common rights,  preaches     the     inoffensive     and     unsuspecting 

and  security          •        ,   , ,      .    •     •,  •  *i      •      J.L 

taken  for  the  animal  that  is  browsing  unwarily  in  the  pasture, 
remainder.  and  in  the  suddenness  of  a  moment  has  seized  it 
in  its  powerful  folds.  The  poor  creature  once 
thus  enveloped  and  encircled  can  have  but  little 
chance  of  escape.  When  by  the  tightening 
grasp  of  its  terrible  coils,  the  reptile  has  reduced 
its  victim  to  an  indistinguishable  mass  of  shape- 
less pulp,  and  prepared  it  by  besmearing  it 
with  a  coating  of  its  nauseous  slime  for  the 


THE   FEUDAL   PERIOD.  25 

horrible  process  of  deglutition  which  it  is  then 
destined  to  undergo, — the  deadly  reptile,  having 
once  made  a  sure  beginning  at  one  end  of  the 
mass  does  not  after  that  allow  its  tranquillity 
and  satisfaction  to  be  disturbed  by  any  doubt 
of  its  capacity  and  ability  to  complete  the  ab- 
sorption of  the  remainder.  This  was  the  stage 
of  the  proceeding  which  had,  towards  the  end  of 
the  feudal  period,  been  reached  in  the  process  of 
swallowing  up  the  community's  rights  in  the 
land.  It  is  evident  that  when  the  process  has 
been  carried  thus  far,  it  can  be  continued  after- 
wards at  intervals  and  at  leisure  without  any 
further  risk  of  interruption  arising  from  inef- 
fectual struggles  and  helpless  writhings  on  the 
part  of  its  mangled  and  hapless  victim. 

Section  v. 

38  The  outline  of  events  in  this  legislative  Chronoiogi- 
struggle  between  the  King  and  the  landowners  ^  °Feuda°if 
may  be  thus  summarized  in  chronological  period.  Primo- 

orcjer  • geniture  substi- 

T-I  -i  f  tuted  for  Gavel- 

Beginning  with  1066,  the  year  of  the  Norman  kind.     The 

Conquest,  the  Feudal  system  was  introduced  by  ai)c.ie.n,.t  an<* 

.       ;*  ...      /-ITT.,,.      J  ,   r  ,    original  form  of 

the  iron  will  of  William,  and  formally  submitted  entail. 
to  by  the  great  nobles  at  the  great  convention  at 
Salisbury  in  1086.  It  is  impossible  to  fix  the 
precise  year  or  even  the  reign  in  wrhich  Primo- 
geniture was  substituted  for  Gavelkind  in  the 
common  law  of  England.  Primogeniture,  it 
should  be  remembered,  was  not  a  feature  of  the 
Feudal  System  as  practised  on  the  Continent, 
and  we  know  that  the  Conqueror  expressly 
sanctioned  Gavelkind  in  his  charter  to  the  City 
of  London.  But  by  the  end  of  the  I2th  century 
at  the  latest,  the  presumption  was  held  to  be  in 
favour  of  primogeniture.  The  ancient  and 


26 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The    13  th 

century  legisla- 
tion reflects  the 
characters  of 
its  Kings. 


T  riumph  of 
policy  of 
nobles.  Mag- 
na  Charta  in 
1215.  Other 
statutes  in 
1225,  1235, 
1285. 


original  form  of  entail  conferred  no  indefeasible 
right  of  inheritance.  When  a  fee  was  granted 
to  a  man  and  "the  heirs  male  of  his  body,"  on 
the  birth  of  a  son  (the  condition  being  then 
said  to  be  fulfilled)  it  was  held  that  the  grantee 
might  then  sell  the  land,  or  charge  it  with  in- 
cumbrances,  or  forfeit  it  by  treason  so  as  in  effect 
to  bar  the  interest  of  his  own  issue.  But  if  he 
did  not  do  so,  it  would  descend  to  his  issue,  as 
he  could  not  devise  it  otherwise  by  will. 

39  The   1 3th  century  was  marked  by  very 
much  important  legislation  in  reference  to  land. 
During  the  first  three-quarters  of  it  the  crown 
was  held  by  the  feeble  hands  of  John  and  his 
son,  Henry   III.,  and  the  course  of   legislation 
shewed  a  marked  tendency  in  favour   of    the 
landowners  gaining  the  upper  hand.      But  on 
the  accession  of  Edward  I.,  in  1272,  a  great  re- 
action took  place.      There  was  a  very  visible 
re-tightening  of  the  grasp  of  the  Feudal  system 
over   the   nobles,   in   striking    contrast   to    the 
relaxing  hold  of  the  crown  as  exhibited  in  the 
hands  of  his  two  predecessors. 

40  In  1215   Magna  Charta  decreed  that  no 
freeman  should  be  deprived  of  his  life,  liberty, 
or  property,  except  by  the  law  of  the  land  and 
the  judgment   of  his   peers.     In    1225    it   was 
enacted  that  no  land  shall  be  aliened  so  that 
the  lord  shall  thereby  lose  any  service  due  him. 
In  1235  the  Statute  of  Merton  opened  the  door 
to   the   encroachments   of    the    landowners   on 
the  common  wastes,  and  in  1285  it  was  opened 
still  wider  by  the  Statute  of  Westminster  the 
Second. 

But  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  century  the 
new  era  of  reactionary  legislation  was  entered 
upon. 


THE   FEUDAL   PERIOD.  2/ 

41  Besides  several  acts  of   less  importance,      Reaction  on 

,1  •  ,10  i     OA  r  TIT  the  side  of  the 

there  was  in  1279  the  Second  Statute  of  Mort-  King,  statutes 
main  which  prohibited  the  conveyance  of  land  of  Mortmain  in 
to  religious  houses.  Then  in  1285  the  famous  Donis9  in  I285e 
Statute  "  De  Donis  conditionalibus  "  (13  Edw.  I.  QuiaEmptores 
c.  i)  originated  estates  tail,  compelling  the  \^212S 
donee  to  carry  out  the  will  of  the  donor,  and 
forbidding  him  to  alien  the  estate  after  an  heir 
had  been  born  to  him,  and  it  also  secured  the 
ultimate  reversion  of  the  estate  to  the  donor  on 
the  failure  of  issue  to  the  donee.  Entails  made 
under  this  statute  "  De  Donis,"  created  a  per- 
petual series  of  life  estates,  and  initiated  a  policy 
which  was  afterwards  seen  to  produce  very  bad 
effects.  In  1290,  five  years  later,  in  pursuance 
of  the  same  general  policy  as  in  De  Donis, 
another  famous  statute,  "  Quia  Emptores,"  was 
passed  to  check  the  growing  practice  of  sub- 
infeudation.  This  was  in  the  nature  somewhat 
of  a  compromise.  For  whereas  previously  the 
alienation  of  lands  without  the  lord's  consent 
had  been  only  connived  at,  it  was  now  legally 
permitted  for  feudal  tenants  to  alien  their  lands 
without  their  lord's  consent ;  but  it  required  the 
assignees  to  hold  immediately  from  the  lord 
and  not  mediately  through  the  tenant,  and 
so  the  lord's  rights  were  saved  from  being 
prejudiced.  In  1326  the  same  right  of  alien- 
ation was  extended  to  tenants-in-capite  on 
payment  of  a  "  fine." 

42  The    I4th  and    I  ;th   centuries  were    too      Thei4thami 

,        ,.  111          r        •  i    L        ii        i"?th    centimes 

much  disturbed  by  foreign  wars,  and  by  the  add  but  little  to 
civil  wars  of  the  Roses,  to  have  left  much  legislation. 

..       e  ,•  ,       •   i    ..  The  evil  effects 

opportunity  for  attention  to  legislative  matters.  of  De  Donis 
During  the  four  centuries,  therefore,  which  and  Quia  Emp- 
intervened  between  the  Conquest  and  the  strengthening 
accession  of  Henry  VII.,  in  1485,  feudal  rules  the  feudal  fet- 


28 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


t e r s  on  the 
great  land- 
ovvners. 


A  period 
favourable  t  o 
smaller  land- 
owners. 


The  i  5  t  h 
cent  u  r  y,  the 
golden  age  of 
English  y  e  o  - 
manry. 


of  succession  governed  the  descent  of  landed 
property,  and  feudal  ideas  of  policy  fostered  the 
system  of  entailing,  and  established  the  law  of 
primogeniture  ;  and  during  the  latter  two  cen- 
turies following  the  enactment  of  De  Donis  and 
Quia  Emptores,  these  two  statutes  crushed  the 
growing  effort  to  emancipate  land  from  its 
feudal  fetters,  at  least  by  open  alienation  ;  and 
they  had  the  further  mischievous  effect  of 
making  the  position  of  the  unfortunate  tenant 
in  agriculture  more  uncertain  than  ever,  as  no 
leasing  power  of  one  tenant-in-tail  was  binding 
on  his  successor. 

43  Nevertheless,   had    it   not   been    for    the 
evictions   and    disturbances,  to  which  we   have 
already  alluded,  and  which  were  caused  by  the 
policy  initiated  by  the  great  landowners  in  the 
1 4th    century,  in    converting   arable  and   waste 
lands  into  grazing  for  the  sake  of  the  greater 
profit  to  be  obtained  from  sheep  farming,  these 
two   centuries,  the    I4th  and   I5th,  would  have 
been  highly  favourable  to  the  interests  of  the 
classes  who  held  the  smaller  and  more  limited 
estates  in  the  land. 

44  The   1 5th  century  has  been  said  to  have 
been  the  golden  age  of  English  Yeomanry,  who 
were    mostly  tenant-farmers    holding    lands   on 
lease.     The    miseries   of    the   civil  war  of   the 
Roses  fell  mainly  on   its  authors.     Whilst  the 
nobles  with    their  feudal  retainers,   wearing   as 
emblems  the  Red  or  the  White  Rose,  followed 
the   fluctuating  fortunes  of  their  party,  now  the 
Yorkists,  and  now  again  the  Lancastrians  in  the 
ascendant,  it  happened  to  very  many  in  turn  on 
both  sides,  that    they    must    expiate  their  ill- 
fortune  either  by  the  sword  on  the  battle-field  or 
otherwise  on  the  scaffold.     Meanwhile  the  yeo- 


THE   FEUDAL   PERIOD. 


man  was  often  able  to  pursue  the  even  tenor  of 
his  way  undisturbed,  among  scenes  of  waving 
corn-fields  and  other  signs  of  peaceful  hus- 
bandry. In  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.  Fortescue 
boasted  that  in  no  country  of  Europe  were 
small  proprietors  so  numerous  as  in  England. 
For  many  descendants  of  old  villeins  had  be- 
come by  this  time  copyholders,  and  thus  entered 
the  ranks  of  yeomanry,  which  now  furnished 
the  bone  and  sinew  of  the  English  commonalty. 
The  course  of  legislation  was  favourable  to  both 
these  classes  in  this  1 5th  century.  The  general 
result  was  a  degree  of  social  equality  such  as 
has  not  often  since  been  witnessed. 

45   Meanwhile  the  interests  which  the  nobles 
had   in  escaping  from   their  feudal  fetters  were 


Discovery  of 
a  mode  of  dis- 
entailing. Tal- 


shared  by  the  Churchmen,  who  sought  to  evade  *a™ms    case- 

i  1  •    i      i       r>  r  •»  «•  •  Common   re- 

the  obstacles  which  the  Statutes  of  Mortmain  had  covery"  and 
interposed  to  prevent  their  acquisition  of  land.  " fines-" 
And  so  it  was  by  a  device  of  the  Churchmen 
that  an  escape  was  found  from  the  tyrannical 
bonds  by  which  the  system  of  entails  had 
strangled  the  endeavours  to  secure  the  right 
of  alienation,  and  to  promote  some  degree  of 
freedom  of  transfer  in  land.  "Common  re- 
covery" had  been  introduced  in  1289  as  a 
means  of  conveying  land.  In  1473  it  was 
decided  in  Taltarum's  Case  that  estates-tail 
could  be  barred  by  what  was  called  a  "  com- 
mon recovery."  This  was  effected  by  the  artifice 
of  inducing  liberal  or  superstitious  landowners 
to  become  defendants  in  collusive  law-suits  in 
which  the  ecclesiastical  plaintiffs  sued  for  and 
recovered  the  lands  as  their  own,  no  defence 
being  made  by  the  landowners  to  their  claim. 
In  this  famous  law-case  the  courts  gave  their 
sanction  and  validity  to  this  proceeding.  It  is  a 


30    THE  LAND  AND  THE  COMMUNITY. 

significant  fact  that  when  this  technical  device  for 
breaking  entails  was  thus  invented,  Parliament 
did  in  no  way  try  to  counteract  it.  On  the 
contrary,  in  1489,  the  alternative  method  of 
terminating  entails  by  "  fines  "  was  also  legally 
sanctioned. 

of°uflTind       46  But  these  werc  not  the  only  devices  in- 

Trusts.    Their  vented  for  evading  the  pressure  of  feudal  bonds. 

:  The  most  remarkable,  and  what  has  proved  to 

effect.  be  the  most  enduring  in  legal  practice,  was  the 

originating  of  Uses  and  Trusts.     We  may  give 

the   following   explanation  of  their   origin  and 

meaning  and  purpose. 

Previous  to  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.,  a 
simple  gift  of  land  to  a  person  and  his 
heirs,  accompanied  by  livery  of  seisin,  gave 
to  that  person  an  estate  in  fee  simple.  As 
early  as  the  time  of  Henry  III.,  Statutes  of 
Mortmain  were  enacted,  prohibiting  land  from 
being  given  to  the  religious  houses.  In  order  to 
avoid  the  effect  of  this  statute,  a  feoffment  was 
made  to  one  person  to  hold  the  land  to  the  USE 
of  another.  The  Courts  of  Chancery  held  that 
the  feoffee  was,  in  such  a  case,  bound  in  con- 
science to  hold  the  land  simply  for  the  benefit  of 
the  third  person.  This  estate  to  use  was  not 
recognised  in  law,  but  only  in  equity.  The 
original  feoffee  was,  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  the 
real  owner.  There  were  thus  two  estates,  a 
legal  and  an  equitable,  in  the  same  property 
cognizable  in  two  different  courts.  By  this 
device,  many  of  the  rules  of  property  were 
defeated.  In  law,  only  the  legal  owner  could  be 
reached.  Clergy  could  hold  land  in  spite  of  the 
Statutes  of  Mortmain.  A  refractory  lord,  holding 
his  property  only  as  equitable  owner,  could 
commit  treason  with  impunity  and  without  the 


THE   FEUDAL   PERIOD. 


forfeiture  of  his  estate,  and  persons  could  also 
dispose  of  their  land  by  will.  The  land  itself 
could  not  be  devised,  but  the  USE  of  it  was,  and 
the  legal  owner  was  bound  in  equity  to  observe 
such  use.  Down  to  the  time  of  Henry  VIII., 
this  practice  had  so  increased  that  by  its  means 
a  considerable  part  of  the  kingdom  had  con- 
trived to  get  rid  of  some  of  the  worst  in- 
conveniences of  feudal  tenure. 

47  In  order  to  remedy  this  state  of  things, 
Henry  VIII.  caused  the  Statute  of  Uses  to  be 
enacted  in  1535.     It  decreed  that  any  person  for 
whom    a  use  was  held  should  be  deemed  the 
legal  owner  of  the  estate  to  the  extent  of  that 
use.     The  equitable  was  thus  converted  into  a 
legal  estate,  and  was  made  subject  to  all  the 
incidents  of  legal  ownership.   Thus  once  again  ap- 
parentlyhad  the  crown  succeeded  in  re-establish- 
ing its  feudal  fetters  upon  the  land.     Its  triumph 
was  destined,  however,  to  be  of  short  duration. 
The  feudal  system  was  no  longer  suited  to  the 
changed  character  of  the  times,  and  the  growing 
spirit  of  freedom  could  no  longer  be  curbed  by 
its  restraints.    And  therefore  again  the  ingenuity 
of  landowners  and  churchmen  was  stimulated, 
and,  aided  by  the  lawyers,  they  succeeded   in 
finding  means  for  another  fraudulent  evasion  of 
the  law.     And  the  Court  of  Equity  was  again 
successfully  invoked  to  their  aid  in  giving  validity 
to  their  legal  fictions. 

48  So,  strange  to  say,  by  a  narrow  construc- 
tion of  the  words  of  the  Statute  of  Uses  the 
purpose  of  the  enactment  was  completely  foiled. 
An  estate  was  now  limited  to  A  and  his  heirs, 
to  the  use  of  B  and  his  heirs,  to  the  use  of  C 
and  his  heirs.     The  court  held  that  the  first  use 
was  executed  by  the  statute  and  B  was  the  legal 


The  Statute 
of  Uses  in 
1535.  The 
breaking  down 
of  the  Feudal 
system. 


The  object 
of  the  Sta  ute 
of  Uses  foiled. 
Its  important 
unforeseen 
effect 


32    THE  LAND  AND  THE  COMMUNITY. 

owner,  but  then  at  this  point  the  power  of  the 
statute  was  exhausted.  Thus  C  remained  the 
equitable  owner,  as  B  would  have  been  before  the 
statute  was  passed.  Such  an  unexecuted  use  is 
now  termed  a  TRUST.  One  very  important 
effect,  however,  the  Statute  of  Uses  had  which 
renders  it  noteworthy.  The  machinery  that  had 
been  employed  in  the  creation  of  the  Use,  thus 
legalized,  was  adopted  for  the  transfer  of  land 
by  Deed  without  publicity  or  registration  ;  and 
this  remarkable  result  has  continued  even  down 
to  the  present  day. 

uni  ^tatute  49  The  last  great  blow,  which  may  be  said 
restores5 a" right  to  have  been  almost  the  finishing  stroke,  to  the 
of  Saxon  times,  feudal  system  was  the  passing  of  the  Statute  of 
WILLS.  This  was  enacted  in  1540,  only  five 
years  after  the  Statute  of  Uses.  This  Act  is 
commonly  said  to  have  given,  but  it  in  truth 
only  restored,  the  power  to  devise  lands  by  will. 
This  had  existed  before  the  Norman  rule,  and 
had  been  extinguished  only  by  the  practice  of 
primogenitary  descent,  with  which  it  was  of 
course  incompatible. 

Military  ten-       50  The  feudal  system  was  swept  away  by 

Ke^'FiS  an  Act  of  the  Long  Parliament  passed  in   1656, 

and     common  and  solemnly  re-enacted  after  the  Restoration  in 

t'meT'T5™-   l66°-      The  famous  Statute  (12  Chas.  II.  c.  24) 

cy  made  equiv-  operating    retrospectively    turned    all    military 

aient  to  owner-  |-enures  jnto  "  free  and  common  socage  "  from 

February  14,  1645.  Thenceforth  freehold  tenancy 

has  been  virtually  equivalent  to  ownership,  and 

the  only  restrictions  to  which  it  is  subject  are 

those  which  may  be  created  by  will  or  deed. 

More  than  a  century  elapsed  before  land  was 

emancipated  from  the  feudal  burdens  in  France, 

and  this  great  reform  was  not  accomplished  in 


THE   FEUDAL   PERIOD.  33 

Prussia,   Austria,  Italy  or  Russia  until  a  period 
within  living  memory. 

Section    vi. 

51  Before  closing  up  this  chapter  of  history  Some  ques- 
and  leaving  altogether  behind  us  this  feudal  l^lhe^titude 
period,  so  fraught  as  it  had  been  with  important  of  the  comnm- 
issues,  inspiring  the  hearts  of  men  with  their 
most  earnest  and  enduring  springs  of  action,  and 
regulating  and  dominating  the  general  policy 
of  the  conduct  and  behaviour  of  Englishmen 
during  a  period  of  from  four  to  six  centuries,  it 
is  needful  for  us  to  add  yet  a  few  words  more. 
Their  land  policy  was  that  to  which  the  thoughts 
of  Englishmen  continuously  and  persistently 
reverted  immediately,  as  soon  as  the  passing 
away  of  each  temporary  crisis  in  history  or 
politics,  whether  of  peace  or  war,  permitted 
their  minds  to  return  once  again  to  their  normal 
and  natural  bent.  It  was  also  a  policy  which  has 
marked  out  the  channels  in  which  our  domestic 
history  has  ever  since  been  compelled  to  run  ;  and 
to  shake  ourselves  free  from  the  effects  of  it,  even 
at  this  late  day,  statesmen  and  legislators  ac- 
knowledge helplessly  they  know  not  how.  In 
what  aspect,  then,  let  us  ask  ourselves,  can  a 
member  of  the  community,  living  at  the  present 
day,  be  expected  to  regard  that  long-protracted 
struggle  between  the  Crown  and  the  nobles,  ex- 
tending throughout  the  whole  of  this  feudal 
period,  in  which  the  great  mass  of  the  com- 
munity in  those  times,  though  their  present  and 
future  interests  were  greatly  at  stake,  as  we  can 
well  now  see,  were  compelled  nevertheless  by 
the  fact  that  the  constitution  and  laws  of  those 
times  did  not  permit  of  their  direct  intervention 
in  their  own  behalf,  to  remain  merely  in  the  posi- 


34          THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

tion  of  silent  and,  as  it  were,  uninterested  spec- 
tators ?  On  which  side,  whether  with  the  Crown, 
or  with  the  nobles,  guided  now  as  we  may  be 
even  by  the  additional  light  of  subsequent 
history,  should  the  sympathies  of  the  commu- 
nity have  been  given  in  that  long-protracted 
struggle  ?  Were  the  interests  of  the  com- 
munity really  championed  by  either  of  the  com- 
batants ?  Or  were  they  each  selfishly  fighting 
for  their  own  interests  only,  and  entirely  regard- 
less of  the  existence  of  the  mass  of  the 
community  outside  of  themselves  ?  Was  it 
really  a  case  in  which  the  community  might 
have  correctly  anticipated  that  whichever  party 
might  be  the  winners,  they  must  inevitably  be 
losers  ? 

Neither       53   These  questions,  simple  and  obvious  as 

nobiiky"  fought  tne7  may  at  first  appear,  arc   by  no  means  easy 

in  behalf  of  the  to  answer.     Nor  indeed  is  it  possible  to  stand  in 

Them?easoyn  with  either  side  throughout  that  whole  contest 

why.  and  say,  "  Here  is  our  friend  ;  "  "  Yonder  is  our 

enemy."     And  the  explanation  of  this  difficulty 

seems    to  lie    in    that    fertile    cause    of    many 

similar  difficulties,  viz.,  the  inconsistency  that  is 

often  so   painfully  glaring  between   a  beautiful 

and  satisfactory  theory  as   it  is    sketched   out 

ideally  in  the  mind   or  on   paper,  and  the  actual 

realization  of   it  when  it  is   attempted  to  be  put 

into    practice,    marred    as    it   then    often    is    by 

human     imperfections,     distorted     by     human 

passions  and  prejudices,  and  ruined  perhaps  by 

the   operation    of    hostile    causes,   which    were 

either  unforeseen  or  uncalculated  for,  when  the 

ideal  structure  was  first  embodied  in  a  fair  and 

The  theory  regular  outline. 

of  the  feudal       53     The  feudal  system,  as  we  have  before 
remarked,  was,  in  its  main  features,  by  no  means 


THE    FEUDAL   PERIOD.  35 

theoretically  bad  or  unjust,  when  regarded  from 
the  standpoint  of  one  of  the  community. 

It  is  true  the  rights  of  the  community  were 
centred  in  the  person  of  the  sovereign  only,  not 
in  the  community  itself;  but  still,  they  were 
nominally  sufficiently  recognised  in  the  bargain 
struck  between  the  landlords  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  community  or  state  (represented  by 
deputy  in  the  person  of  the  king)  on  the  other. 

The  landlords  held  their  lands  as  tenants 
from  the  state,  and  in  return  undertook  to  fight, 
when  necessary,  on  behalf  of  the  realm,  either 
against  foes  beyond  seas,  or  for  the  maintenance 
of  peace  and  order  within  its  own  borders.  The 
wisdom  of  the  arrangement  may  be  found,  by 
experience,  open  to  question  in  many  ways,  but 
still,  it  cannot,  on  a  first  glance,  be  condemned 
as  essentially  unfair  or  unjust  to  any  one  of  the 
three  parties  concerned,  the  crown,  the  nobles, 
or  the  common  people.  We  could  easily 
imagine,  indeed,  such  an  arrangement,  capable 
of  working  satisfactorily  and  harmoniously 
in  many  respects,  even  if  made  at  the  present 
day. 

54  The  obvious  weakness  of  the  system,  how-      Wherein  lay 
ever,  as  it  was  revealed  by  the  strain  of  actual  ex-  1"  e  n  l 

perience,  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  interests  of  two 
of  the  three  parties  were  held  in  one  hand,  that 
of  the  sovereign,  who  thus  not  only  represented 
in  his  own  person  his  own  individual  interests  in 
the  land  (which  in  those  times  were  very  con- 
siderable), but  also  represented,  as  deputy,  the 
interests  of  the  community.  Had  the  interests 
of  the  community  been  efficiently  protected  by  a 
body  specially  appointed  by  it  for  that  purpose, 
as  we  might  suppose  would  be  the  case,  if  we 
were  to  suggest  that  the  experiment  of  a  feudal 

3* 


36    THE  LAND  AND  THE  COMMUNITY. 

system    should  be  tried  in  modern    times,   the 
result  might  have  been  far  different. 

HOW  it  failed       55  As  it  was,  no  wonder  that  when,  in  due 
to  stand  the  time,  circumstances  arose  which  caused  a  clash 

tost   of  expen-    ,  .       .    .  . 

ence.  between  the  individual  interests  of  the  sovereign 

and  the  interests  of  the  community,  which  he  was 
supposed  to  represent,  the  event  should  prove 
that  the  latter  were  pushed  to  the  wall  in  order 
to  save  the  former.  Sometimes  the  community's 
interests  suffered  merely  by  the  neglect  of  its 
protector  to  protect,  he  being  too  busily  en- 
gaged in  protecting  himself ;  but  at  other  times, 
no  doubt,  the  community  stood  in  the  position 
of  some  poor  defenceless  horse  which,  as  we 
have  somewhere  read,  the  hunted  traveller,  in 
his  dire  extremity,  will  sometimes  be  driven  to 
cut  loose  from  his  sleigh,  to  fall  as  a  prey  to  the 
hungry  wolves,  from  whose  greedy  fangs  he 
must,  at  any  cost,  if  possible,  obtain  a  momentary 
respite. 
its  practical  56  We  can  readily  understand,  therefore, 

abandonment  frow  jt  was  that  after  a  century  and  a  half's  ex- 

m  consequence.  .  '       .  .  .  r  Ji        r      j    i 

Change  in  the  pencncc  of  the  working  of  the  feudal  system, 

relative  P°si-  the  community  began  to  turn  away  in  disgust 

parties  in  refer-  and  despair  from  the  idea  of  looking  upon  the 

c-nce  to  it.          crown  as  its  representative  and  protector,  and  to 

entertain   a  hope  that,  by  combining  with  the 

nobles,  they  might,  perhaps,  gain  a  position  in 

which  they  might,  in  some  small  measure,  be 

able   to   guard   their   own    interests    from    the 

power  which  nominally  protected,  but  in  reality 

oppressed  and  sacrificed  them.     The  nobles,  on 

their  part,  were  quick  to  perceive  the  advantage 

which  this  change  of  allegiance  afforded  them, 

and  the  effect  of  this  new  combination  of  parties 

soon  shewed  itself  in  the  famous  struggle  which 

resulted  in  the  triumph  of  Magna  Charta,  and, 


THE   FEUDAL   PERIOD.  37 

half-a-century  later,  in  the  institution  of  the  first 
Parliament.  From  that  time  the  theory  of  the 
feudal  system  was  gradually  lost  sight  of ;  the 
interests  of  the  crown  and  of  the  community, 
though  nominally  still  united,  were  seen  to  be 
really  separate,  if  not  antagonistic,  and  the  com- 
munity entered  upon  a  stage  in  which  it  ceased 
to  look  to  the  crown  either  as  its  representa- 
tive or  protector. 

57  No    doubt,   for  a    time,   it    cherished    a      The  commu- 
hope   that    the    nobles,  without    nominally  ac-  nity  Puts  its 

,  ...  c  .  <.,        trust    in    the 

cepting  the  position  of  representative  of  the  nobles  for  a 
community,  as  the  Crown  had  done,  would  yet.  time,  but  is 

f  i     i_    i  -A.  i  j  again    d  i  s  a  p- 

m  return  for  such  help  as  it  could,  in  emer-  pointed. 
gency,  give  to  them,  act  that  part  of  protector  to 
it  which  it  still  felt  itself  to  be  in  need  of.  This 
hope  was,  however,  destined  to  be  soon  disap- 
pointed. They  might  be  willing  to  do  some- 
thing in  the  way  of  defence  against  their 
common  enemy  and  would  -  be  oppressor,  the 
Crown,  but  when  it  came  to  a  divergence  of 
interests  between  themselves  and  the  com- 
munity, the  circumstances  were,  of  course,  quite 
different.  The  rule  of  "Noblesse  oblige  "  did  not 
then  seem  to  them  applicable. 

58  So  when  the  feudal  period  had  run  out     At  last  the 
its  full  length,  it  is  difficult  for  one  of  the  com-  community 

•  ,  .1          ....  r    .1  ..         ceases  to  have 

munity  to  see  in  the  situation  of  the  respective  sympathy  \\\\\\ 
parties  anything  either  to  suggest  cause  for  either'  the 
congratulation  in  the  triumph  which  had  at  ° 

length  rewarded  the  persistent  struggles  of  the 
landowners  to  gain  for  themselves  absolute 
rights  as  against  the  crown  ;  or,  on  the  other 
hand,  can  we  see  much  cause  for  regret  in  the 
final  defeat  of  the  crown,  the  nominal  repre- 
sentative of  the  rights  of  the  community.  At 
the  close  of  this  long-protracted  struggle  it 


'IliE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  nobles 
repudiate  their 
obligations,  the 
crown  aban- 
dons its  theory, 
and  is  com  pen- 
sated  for  its 
personal  losses. 


The  commu- 
nity, the  j;reat 
loser  at  the  end 
of  the  Feudal 
period.  Its 
needs  unprovi- 
ded for.  The 


would  have  been  difficult,  after  a  candid  and 
impartial  examination,  to  say  which  of  those 
two  parties  was  fighting  on  behalf  of  the  rights 
of  the  community ;  and  that  being  so,  it  is 
pretty  safe  to  conclude  that  neither  of  them 
were  so  fighting. 

59  We  see,  in  fact,  as  the  final  result  of  the 
struggle,   that   the   landowners  have   converted 
their    possession    of  the    land,   originally   con- 
ditioned   on     the    performance    of    important 
duties   on    behalf   of   the   community,   into  an 
absolute  ownership,  independent  of  any  duties 
or  obligations  whatsoever.     Obviously  they  had 
here  gone  very  far  beyond  what  was  either  reason- 
able or  just.     And  we  see  the  Crown  compelled 
to  admit  in  substance  that  the  theory  by  which 
it  was  aforetime  regarded  as  the  champion   and 
representative  of  the  rights  of  the  community, 
must    henceforth   be   regarded   as    an    obsolete 
and  exploded  theory,  no  longer  to  be  seriously 
regarded  in   the  future   relations  of  'the  parties. 
To   complete   the   irony   of   the    situation,   the 
personal  interests  of  the  crown  which  had  been 
somewhat     over-ridden    in     the     heat    of    the 
struggle,  are  compensated  for  in  the  new  com- 
pact  by  tlie  imposition  of  excise  duties,  a  new 
and  ever-growing  burden  laid  upon  the  back  of 
the    community,    and,    in    addition,    at    a    later 
period,  in  ihe  reign  of  William   III.  by  a  small 
land-tax  of  four  shillings  in  the  pound,  which 
is  assessed  even  to  this  day  on   the  same  low 
valuation  as  in    1692. 

60  And  when   we  proceed  next   to  enquire 
what  provision  is  made  for  the  performance  in 
time  of  need   of  those  military  duties  and  ser- 
vices in    return  for  which  the    landowners   had 
been   originally  permitted  to  hold  possession  of 


THE   FEUDAL   PERIOD.  39 

their  land,  there  ensues  a  pause,  but  no  answer,  consequences 

T,  .  ,  ii        i  -•  seenin    the 

That  is  perhaps  the  least  compromising  way  alarming 
of  replying  to  an  inconvenient  question.  Per-  growth  of  the 
haps  the  crown  and  the  nobles  assumed,  f 
after  the  disastrous  troubles  of  the  Civil  War, 
that  an  era  of  permanent  peace  had  now  set 
in,  that  the  defence  of  the  Kingdom  need 
no  more  be  provided  for  in  the  future.  Per- 
haps they  were  each  so  intent  on  the  adjust- 
ment and  settlement  of  their  own  claims  and 
interests,  that  this  other  important  consideration 
on  behalf  of  the  commumity  was  accidentally 
overlooked  ;  it  may  have  been  an  oversight ! 
In  that  case,  it  may  well  be  for  us  in  these  later 
days  a  sad  and  painful  reflection  that  the  needs 
left  thus  unprovided  for,  should  have  gradually 
resulted  in  heaping  upon  the  back  of  the  other- 
wise sufficiently  burdened  community  an 
additional  mountain  of  National  Debt,  which  at 
one  time  had  grown  to  an  amount  exceeding 
Nine  Hundred  Millions  sterling.  The  annual 
interest  on  this  enormous  debt,  in  spite  of  all 
the  efforts  in  repayment  of  principal,  has  been 
as  high  and  is  at  present  not  much  less  than 
Thirty  Million  Pounds,  being  an  average  tax 
of  about  Fifteen  shillings  a  year  for  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  in  the  community,  or  nearly 
Four  Pounds  for  every  family. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Introduction 
of  modern 
family  settle- 
ments. 


The  great 
1  a  n  d  o  vv  n  ers 
initiate  a 
change  of 
,'olicy  among 
themselves.  No 
new  legislation 
necessary  for  it. 


THE   POST-FEUDAL   PERIOD. 

Section  i. 

61  We   come   now  to  the  third  period  into 
which   our  history   is   divided,   extending  from 
1660  down   to   our  own  times.     In  this  period 
there  is  but  little  worthy  of  special  notice  in  the 
way  of  further  legislation.     The  feudal  system 
was    gone,   but   it    had    left    its   traces    in    the 
many    complex     and    circuitous    forms    which 
evasion     had     been     compelled     to     assume, 
and  though  from  time  to  time  something  has 
been  done  to  remove  these  encumbrances,  yet 
much  still  remains  to  be  done.     The  most  im- 
portant event  to  be  noticed  in  the    iyth  century 
was  the  introduction  of  modern  family  settle- 
ments. 

62  We  have  seen  how,  by  the  operation  of 
recoveries  and  fines,  the  indefeasible  entails  of 
an  earlier  age  had  been  set  aside,  and  the  owner 
of  land  thus  disentailed  soon  afterwards  acquired 
the  power  of  devising  it  freely  under  the  Statute 
of  Wills.     At  this  stage,  then,  we  cannot  but 
observe   that   a  very   remarkable    change  took 
place   in  the   policy   of  the   great   landowners. 
This  new  policy  probably  escaped   public  criti- 


THE   POST-FEUDAL   PERIOD.  41 

cism  and  excited  the  less  opposition  in  con- 
sequence, because  it  was  carried  out  without  the 
necessity  of  seeking  for  any  new  legislation,  and 
was  also  greatly  facilitated  by  the  system  of 
secret  conveyance  without  registration  which 
the  Statute  of  Uses  had  given  legal  sanction  to. 
Ever  since  the  enactment  of  De  Donis  it  had 
been  the  steady  aim  of  the  great  landowners  to 
discover  a  means  by  which  to  break  the  strict 
entails  which  it  had  created,  and  to  obtain  the 
right  of  alienation  free  from  the  control  of  their 
feudal  lord,  the  King.  The  law  of  primogeni- 
ture had  been  felt  a  burden,  because  each 
succeeding  tenant  could  have  no  more  than  a 
life  estate,  and  had  no  power  to  dispose  of  it  by 
sale  or  devise  it  by  will.  The  landowners  had 
accepted  without  protest  the  absurd  invention  of 
a  common  recovery,  because  it  was  a  convenient 
method  by  which  they  could  bar  an  entail. 
They  had  rejoiced  when  legislation  enabled 
them  to  accomplish  the  same  end  by  means  of 
a  fine.  They  had  gained  practically  a  complete 
release  from  their  feudal  bonds  after  the  Statute 
of  Wills  was  enacted. 

63  Now,  however,  feudal  tenures  being  finally  Reasons  in 
abolished,  we  see  the  class  of  great  landowners  change° 
proceeding  to  introduce  a  new  mode  of  settling 
estates,  which  depends  not  on  any  single  statute 
or  law,  but  on  custom  mainly,  which  takes 
advantage  of  legal  forms  already  existing,  and 
ingeniously  proceeds  to  twist  them  about  to 
serve  other  and  quite  different  purposes  than 
those  for  which  they  were  originally  intended. 
We  have  already  had  occasion  to  refer  to  those 
three  principal  rights  of  landowners  which 
characterized  the  laws  of  land  tenure  in 
Saxon  times, — the  right  of  alienation,  the 


42 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


Re-establish- 

merit  of  entails 

and  primo- 

tfcniture  by  the 

settlements. 


right  of  devising  by  will,  and  the  right  of 
inheritance  by  descent  according  to  Gavel- 
kind  —  and  we  have  seen  in  our  history  of 
feudal  times  how  succeeding  generations  of 
landowners  unremittingly  laboured  during 
several  centuries  to  recover  them  when  once 
lost,  and  how  this  had  been  triumphantly 
accomplished  in  effect  when  the  Statute  of 
Wills  had  been  obtained.  Had  now  the  policy 
of  the  landowners  undergone  no  change  in  the 
post-feudal  period,  we  should  have  seen  in  their 
conduct  that  they  attached  great  value  to  the 
preservation  of  these  rights.  Was  this  the 
case  ?  Did  they  strive  to  promote  still  further 
the  freedom  of  transfer  in  land  ?  Did  they 
allow  each  landowner  to  devise  his  lands  by 
will,  unfettered  and  unrestricted,  as  he  might 
think  best  ?  Did  they  seek  to  emancipate 
themselves  from  the  custom  of  primogeniture, 
and  provide  by  an  equal  division  for  all  their 
children  according  to  the  custom  of  Gavelkind  ? 
QQ.  On  the  contrary,  the  system  of  modern 

r        -\  ,  ,  i  •  i         i       •       j    i. 

family  settlements  is  expressly  devised  to  prc- 
vent  these  things,  The  new  system  which  has 
°  f  grown  up,  and  which  has  now  been  long  settled 
in  practice,  takes  the  most  stringent  and 
effective  means  to  prevent  alienation,  and  re- 
duces every  present  possessor  like  De  Donis 
did  to  the  position  of  a  mere  tenant-for-life  ;  the 
right  to  devise  the  land  by  will  is  of  service 
only  to  make  pecuniary  provision  for  widows 
and  younger  members  of  the  family  ;  and 
primogeniture,  though  abolished  in  law,  was 
henceforth  placed,  by  the  effect  of  custom, 
more  imperative  and  compelling  than  law,  and 
from  which  there  is  practically  no  appeal,  on  a 
basis  more  secure  than  ever  before. 


THE   POST-FEUDAL   PERIOD. 


65  We  think  all  this  proves  what  we  have 
suggested,  that  there  was,  unobserved  and  but 
littled  noticed  by  the  many,  a  marked  change 
which   took   place   in   the   policy  of  the  great 
landowners,  at  this   period,   and   the   fact   that 
this  change  was  not  shared  in,  to  any  consider- 
able  extent,   by   the    owners    of    the    smaller 
estates  in  land,  the  class  of  small  freeholders  and 
copyholders,   is  very    suggestive,     and     full     of 
a  grim  significance. 

66  For,  notwithstanding    this  change,  there 
was  not  lacking  a  very  clear  and   distinct  con- 
nection   between  the  new  and  the  old  policies. 
There  was  an   unmistakable  unity  of    aim   and 
purpose,   which  was  not  at  cnce  revealed,  we 
may  readily   believe,    even    to   the   landowners 
themselves,  but  which  gradually  took  shape  as 
events  favoured  its   development.     It   would   be 
unfair,  perhaps,  to  suggest  that  the  landowners 
having  now  entirely  freed  themselves  from  the 
thraldom    of  the    feudal    system,    and    emanci- 
pated themselves  from  the  power  and  control  of 
the  sovereign,  perceived    that   they   had  at   the 
same  time  given  a  death-blow  also  to  the  rights 
of  the     community    in     the     land,    which    had 
already  gradually   ceased     to    be   represented, 
except    in  theory   only,   in  the   person   of  the 
King  as  the  representative  of  the  State.     And 
thus,   having   now   acquired   the   absolute   and 
exclusive   right   of    ownership    over    whatever 
lands    they  possessed,  while  on  the  one  hand, 
they  took  careful  measures  to  prevent  their  own 
estates  from   dispersion   or  encroachment,  they 
were  now  ready  on  the  other  hand   to  use  their 
newly    enfranchised     power     and     undistracted 
opportunities  to  search  for   means  whereby  they 
might    gratify    a  spirit    of  insatiable    greed  by 


The  change 
of  policy  not 
shared  in  by 
the  smaller 
landowners. 


The  connec- 
tion between 
the  old  and 
n  e  w  policy. 
An  ur.mistake- 
atle  unity  of 
aim  and 
purpose. 


44 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


years 


swallowing  up  whatever  other  lands  of  smaller 
estates  or  of  common  lands  not  yet  enclosed, 
which  the  wheel  of  fortune  might  at  any  time 
bring  within  their  grasp.  It  would  not  be  fair, 
we  say,  to  suggest  that  this  was  their  deliberate 
aim,  but,  if  such  a  theory  were  put  forward,  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  find  many  facts  in 
subsequent  history,  which  would  tinge  it  with 
some  colour  of  truth. 

Section  ii. 

o  /m  a  kTnde       ^  It  is  not  perhaps  necessary  to  enter  into 
settlements  on  the  details  of  the  system  of  family  settlements. 

child1  a  n  d  ^i  ^  ^  ^e  Pr°Perty  m  land  was  divided  out  to 
several  persons  with  "  estates  for  life  "  and  "in 
remainder,"  so  as  to  prevent  the  possibility  of 
alienation  until  not  only  the  whole  of  the  lives 
existing  at  the  time  of  making  the  settlement  or 
will  had  ended,  but  until  the  UNBORN  CHILD 
of  one  who  was  then  an  infant  had  attained  21 
years  of  age  ;  so  in  fact  as  to  extend  entail 
ordinarily  for  50,  but  possibly  for  80  or  90  years. 
In  common  parlance,  estates  in  land  may  be 
settled  upon  any  number  of  lives  in  being,  and 
2  1  years  afterwards. 

gg   jn  ^is  way  each  ccn  when  he  succeeds 

J 

finds  himself  merely  a  tenant  for  life,  and  as 
such  possessed  of  no  power  to  prevent  his  own 
son  from  becoming  owner  in  fee  simple  with  full 
power  to  deal  with  the  estate  when  he  in  turn 
shall  succeed.  But  a  father  so  situated  is  little 
inclined  to  leave  to  his  son  powers  of  which  he 
himself  is  deprived,  while  his  son  is  generally 
willing  to  barter  his  future  liberty  for  a  present 
liberal  allowance.  Thus  father  and  son  strike  a 
bargain  ;  the  father  buys  the  son's  surrender  of 
his  future  right,  and  the  .son,  for  a  price,  agrees 


:hpos5es- 

sor  of  the  land 

thus    becomes 
fltenant-for-iife 


THE   POST-FEUDAL   PERIOD. 


45 


to  submit  himself  to  the  restraints  of  being 
merely  tenant  for  life  instead  of  in  fee  simple 
when  his  father  shall  die.  The  process  repeated 
from  generation  to  generation  has  re-established 
in  practice  the  system  of  entails  which  the  courts 
had  formally  abrogated  as  contrary  to  public 
policy,  and  which  every  writer  has  denounced  as 
hurtful  to  the  nation. 

Section  iii. 

69  Whilst  these  successful  means  were  being      The  smaller 
continuously  taken  for  the  preservation  of  the  "VomnTon 
large  estates  in  a  few  families,  let  us  now  see  lands." 
what  was  going  on  in  those  smaller  estates  which 

had  thus  far  escaped  absorption,  and  in  those 
common  lands  which  formed  the  remainder  of 
the  estate  that  was  left  to  the  community  at 
large. 

70  The  system  of  entails,  or  of  creation  of 
estates  for  life  only,  which  has  now  prevailed  for 
six  centuries  in  England,  is  sufficient  to  account 
for   the   fact  that   the   large  estates   have  con- 
tinually   augmented    in   size    and   number,    by 
corresponding  absorption  of  the  small  properties 
of   yeomen.     The  small  properties  are  seldom 
subjected    to    strict    settlement.     The    owners 
occasionally  fall  into  difficulties,  and  then  their 
land  is  sold  to  pay  their  debts.  They  are  frequently 
moved  by  natural  affection  either  to  divide  their 
estates  among  all  their   children  or  to  subject 
them  to  charges  for  children  other  than  the  heir, 
and  this  also  tends  to  bring  them  into  the  market 
for  sale.     The  large  properties  therefore  continue 
undiminished  ;  and  when  a  small  adjoining  free- 
hold comes  into  the  market,  it  is  seldom  that  the 
owner  of  the  larger  estate  cannot  find  the  money 
to  effect  its  purchase.     Once  obtained  it  is  in- 


Absorp  t  i  o  n 


46 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


eluded  in  the  next  settlement  of  the  larger  estate, 
and  thus  permanently  withdrawn  from  the 
operation  of  natural  processes  of  disintegration. 

71  On  the  whole  [t  follows  that  large  estates 
the  hands  of  a  tend  to  grow,  and  in  precisely  the  same  propor- 
tion small  ones  tend  to  disappear.  The  Peers, 
in  number  about  600,  hold  rather  more  than 
one-fifth  of  all  the  land  in  the  kingdom.  One- 
half  of  the  whole  territory  is  in  the  hands  of 
only  7,400  individuals  ;  the  other  half  is  divided 
among  312,500  individuals.  Barely  one  person 
in  one  hundred  owns  more  than  an  acre  of  soil. 


"  E  n  c  1  o  - 
surus  "  promp- 
ted by  the  in- 
creasing de- 
mand for 
wheat. 


"  Enclosing  " 
now  again  be- 
came the  settled 
policy  of  land- 
owners. The 
Enclosure  Acts 
o  f  1801  and 
1845. 


Section  iv. 

72  Something  further  must  now  be  said  on 
the  subject  of  Enclosures.     The  production  of 
wheat,   stimulated   by   the   bounty   system,    by 
increasing  facilities  of  locomotion,  and  by  the 
immense  increase  of  town   markets,   received  a 
prodigious  impulse  in  the  reigns  of  Anne  and 
the  first  two  Georges.  To  meet  the  ever-growing 
demand,  the  practice   of  enclosure,  which   had 
been  under  some  respite  for  a  couple  of  centuries, 
was   now   revived   on   a   much   more   extended 
scale  ;  but  the  enclosures   of  the   i8th   century 
were  very  different  in  character  and  objects  from 
the  enclosures  of  the  i6th.  Then  the  arable  land 
was  converted  into  pasture.     Now    it  was  the 
remaining  waste  lands  that  were  to  be  reclaimed 
and  brought  under  cultivation. 

73  Many  local  Acts  had  been  passed  for  this 
purpose  since  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.     These  so- 
called  "  improvements "  became  more  common 
under  George  II.,  and  in  the  reign  of  George  III. 

"  enclosure  "  became  the  settled  policy  of  landed 
proprietors.  About  2,000  Enclosure  Bills  were 
passed  before  the  General  Enclosure  Act  of  1801, 


THE   POST-FEUDAL    PERIOD. 


47 


and  about  2,000  more  were  passed  between  that 
Act  and  the  General  Enclosure  Act  of  1845. 

74  The    Annual    Report   of    the    Enclosure 

r  .  , 

Commissioners  for  1867  shows  that  during  the 
1  50  years  previous  no  less  than  7,660,413  acres 
were  added  to  the  cultivated  area,  that  is  about 
one-third  of  the  total  of  25,451,626  acres  in  cul- 
tivation  in  that  year.  The  Commissioners  re- 
mark that  such  enclosures,  being  often  made 
without  any  compensation  to  the  smaller  com- 
moners, have  deprived  agricultural  labourers  of 
ancient  rights  over  the  waste,  and  disabled  the  oc- 
cupants of  new  cottages  from  acquiring  new  rights. 

75  Nor  must  it  be  supposed  that  the  number 

c  ,        ,     ,  .    ,  *  .  .  j 

of  landed  proprietors  was  in  any  way  increased 
by  this  process  of  enclosure.  The  area  enclosed 

i  •    •  j    j  ,1  j    ,  i  i  i 

was  divided  among  those,  and  those  only,  who 
already  possessed  common  rights  by  virtue  of 
their  holding  freeholds  or  copyholds,  and  the 
very  idea  of  recognising  in  law  any  public  in- 
terest in  open  wastes  or  forests  is  entirely 
modern.  The  lion's  share  was  always  reserved 
for  the  lord  of  the  manor,  and  immense  acces- 
sions of  territory  were  thus  secured  by  powerful 
landowners  in  days  when  the  landed  interest 
was  paramount  in  the  Legislature  no  less  than 
in  local  administration.  The  chief  sufferers  at 
the  time  were  poor  labourers,  holding  cottages 
at  will  of  their  landlords,  who  lost  the  privilege 
of  turning  out  pigs,  geese,  and  fowls  on  the 
common,  and  for  whom,  of  course,  no  compensa- 
tion was  provided,  or  even  thought  of. 

76  It   is  worthy  of   observation   that  while 
these  Enclosure  Acts  were  applicable  to  "com- 
mon    fields,"   separate  Acts   were  passed  about 
the   same    period  to    extinguish   the   primitive 
system  of    village   husbandry,   then    still    pre- 


The  amount 

of  land    c'ii- 

closed.     The 
'"J"5^ 

x0  compe'nsa- 
tionfor  them. 


The  lord  of 

the  manor  gets 

the  lion's  share. 
Labourers  are 

the  chief  suffer- 

ers 


Common 


Common 
"        ancl 


48          THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

vailing  in  many  parts  of  England.  One  of 
these,  passed  in  1773,  facilitated  the  division 
and  enclosure  of  these  open  fields.  Since  the 
weaker  commoners  were  seldom  able  to  pay  the 
needful  expenses  to  protect  their  interests  or  to 
assert  their  own  claims  before  Committees  on 
Enclosure  Bills,  it  is  highly  probable  that 
enclosure  of  "  common  fields,"  like  that  of 
"  common  pastures  and  woods,"  helped  to  crush 
out  the  struggling  peasant  farmer. 
A  mere  rem-  77  jn  j^g  was  published  Lawrence's 

nant  of      com-    ..  ,T  0  '         /-     A        •       i  » 

mon  fields"     New  System  of  Agriculture.       In  it  he  states 
now  left.  that  "  it  is  believed  that  almost  one-half  part  of 

the  kingdom  are  commons,  and  a  third  of  all 
the  kingdom  is  what  we  call  common-fields." 
Now,  in  1879,  the  common  field  lands  remaining 
open  were  estimated  at  only  264,000  acres.  The 
total  area  of  England  alone,  as  stated  in  the 
Agricultural  Returns  is  32,597,398  acres. 

Section  v. 

indihfferTnPcereof       78   Tt  wil1  be    observed  that  in    relation    to 
the  people  to  the    rights   described,  the   lord    and   the   com- 
these  proceed-  moners  are  the  only  parties  recognised  by  the 
law   in    the   transactions.     The   community   in 
general  were  not  considered  to  have  any  rights 
to  be  respected.     Until  quite  recently  the  en- 
closure of  commons  was  regarded  as  a  matter 
affecting  the  lord  alone,  or  at  most  the  lord  and 
the  commoners.     We  cannot  but  marvel,  as  we 
now  look  back  on  the  apparent  supineness  of 
the  people  in  the  matter.     The  ease  with  which 
these    selfish    and    rapacious   schemes    of     the 
landowners  were  carried  out  is  truly  surprising. 
H  o  w   n  c  -       79   But    a    sufficient   explanation    is   to    be 
for>       found  in  the  fact  that  the  parliamentary  repre- 
sentation  of   the   people    was  then    in    its   un- 


THE   POST-FEUDAL   PERIOD. 


49 


The  prepon- 
derance of  the 
1  and  o  w  ning 
classes  in  the 
Legislature. 


reformed  state,  that  therefore  the  community 
at  large  had  little  power  of  making  its  voice 
heard,  even  had  they  perceived  and  understood 
clearly  what  was  being  done.  Doubtless,  also, 
that  manifest  necessity  of  bringing  more  land 
into  cultivation  in  order  to  supply  the  needs  of 
the  community  for  daily  food  blinded  their  judg- 
ment as  to  the  injustice  of  which  they  were  the 
victims,  until  the  time  of  protest  had  gone  by. 

80  The  two  branches  of  the  Legislature 
have  always  contained  a  preponderating  pro- 
portion of  landlords,  the  Peers  deriving  their 
privileges  from  the  fact  of  being  large  land- 
owners, and  the  House  of  Commons  at  that 
time  also  having  its  members  elected  much 
more  largely  from  those  who  were  related  to  the 
Peers  and  others  of  the  landed  gentry  than  has 
been  the  case  recently.  A  legislature  thus 
composed  could  scarcely  be  expected  to  do 
otherwise  than  favour  a  policy  which  largely 
augmented  their  own  interests  in  the  land. 

Section  vi. 
81   The   first   sign  of  an  awakening    of   the      F|rst  sisn  of 

,  ,.  .     ,  .  f   A.I        j.  awakening     in 

public  mind  to  a  consciousness  of  the  true  the  public 
meaning  of  what  was  going  on  was  in  1836,  mind- 
when  in  an  Enclosure  Act  of  that  year  it  was 
stipulated  that  no  enclosures  should  be  made 
within  ten  miles  of  London  or  within  corre- 
sponding distances  of  smaller  towns.  Next,  in 
1845,  when  the  General  Enclosure  Act  was 
passed,  which  applied  to  all  "  common  lands," 
it  was  enacted  that  manorial  wastes  must  not 
be  enclosed  without  the  previous  sanction  of 
Parliament.  In  1852,  a  later  Act  made  the 
consent  of  Parliament  necessary  in  all  cases 
under  the  Enclosure  Act. 


4 


5O 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The   Encio- 

sure    Commis- 

sioners  fail  in 
their  duty  to 
protect  the 

public  rights, 


Further   en- 


change  of  atti- 

'nrt    of    the 
people. 


Successful 
assertions  of 
community 
tights. 


82  Under   these  various    Acts,   however,   in 

.t          -  .  ,  M    .    ,.  A.  .  ... 

spite  of  these  restrictions,  the  enclosures  which 

were   still    permissible    proceeded    apace,    and 

,  «/-•  ••  i  i  , 

the  Commissioners  have  been  not  undeservedly 

accused  of  unduly  favouring  enclosure,  and 
neglecting  the  powers  with  which  they  were 
intrusted  for  the  protection  of  the  public. 
There  seems  to  have  been  very  good  ground 
for  this  charge.  For  the  Home  Secretary 
(Mr.  Cross,  now  Viscount  Cross)  in  1876 
stated  that  out  of  414,000  acres  which  had 
been  enclosed  under  the  Act  of  1845,  ^ess  than 
4,000  had  been  dedicated  to  purposes  of  recrea- 
tion and  exercise  ;  and  he  admitted  that  whereas 
enclosures  had  formerly  been  treated  as  a  private 
estate,  improvement  to  which  the  owner  was  en- 
titled, a  great  change  of  opinion  had  taken 
place  as  to  the  rights  of  the  public. 

83  This    feeling    found    expression    in    the 
Metropolitan    Commons    Act    oi     1866,   which 
absolutely  prohibited    all    further    inclosures  of 
Metropolitan      Commons,     due      compensation 
being    made    for    beneficial    interests    affected 
thereby.    This  it  will  be  observed   is  a  complete 
change     of    attitude.       Whereas    the    lord    was 
formerly  treated  as  the  real  owner,  and  allowed 
to  buy  off  partial  interests,  the  public  is   now 
placed  in   that  position    of  ownership,  and    the 
lord  becomes  an  encumbrancer  to  be  bought  off 
like  any  other. 

84  The   revival   of  public  interest  in    corn- 

iji  •    i.  £    •  cr          i    •  c 

mons  led  to  resistance  being  offered  in  courts  of 
law  to  the  unauthorized  enclosure  of  commons 
by  lords  of  the  manor.  One  important  case  was 
that  of  Warrick  v.  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  in 
which  plaintiff,  as  a  freeholder  of  the  manor  of 
Plumstead,  obtained  a  decree  against  the  defend- 


THE   POST-FEUDAL   PERIOD.  51 

ants,  who  had  enclosed  a  portion  of  the  common 
of  the  manor.  The  judgment  of  the  Lord 
Chancellor  Hatherley  on  that  occasion  contains 
a  statement  of  the  view  now  taken  by  the 
courts  of  claims  to  rights  of  common.  In  the 
Commissioners  of  Sewers  v.  Glasse,  the  Corpo- 
ration of  London  in  like  manner  defeated 
attempted  enclosures  in  Epping  Forest. 


CHAPTER  V. 


Now  on  the 
eve  of  great 
changes  in  the 
future  of  land 
tenure. 


The  impor- 
tance of  true 
f  u  n  d  a  mental 
principles. 
Prevalent  mis- 
conceptions to 
bo  avoided. 


The  primitive 
form  of  tenure 
was  not  sever- 
nlty,  but  com- 
monalty. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  LAND  TENURE  IN 
ENGLAND. 

Section  \. 

85  We    may,  before    concluding    our    histo- 
rical review,  offer  some  remarks  in  reference  to 
the  future  of  Land  Tenure  in  England.     There 
is  a  feeling   on  every  hand  that  we  arc,  here  in 
England,  as  in  some  other  countries,  on  the  eve 
of  great  changes  in  the  conditions  on  which  in 
future  land  shall  be  allowed  to  be  held.     Not 
only  in   Ireland,  but  in  the  Colonies,  and  in  the 
United  States  does  the  land  question  exist  as  a 
chronic  subject  of  discussion. 

86  It  is  therefore  of  the  highest  importance 
that  we  should  be  quite  sure  of  our  fundamental 
principles.     How  easily  we  may  be  led  astray  by 
carelessness  or  inattention  to  this  cause  is  evident 
when  we  remember  how  the  historical  sketch  we 
have  just  gone  through  has  reversed  many  of  the 
prevalent  conceptions  of  the  natural  or  original 
forms  of  property. 

87  That  the  primitive  form  of  property  in 
land  was  not  severalty  but  commonalty,   that 
land  was  held  not  by  individuals  but  by  com- 
munities,  and    that   individual    ownership    was 


THE  FUTURE  OF  LAND  TENURE.     53 

slowly  evolved  out  of  common  ownership,  are 
propositions  as  nearly  as  possible  the  opposite 
of  our  a  priori  ideas  on  the  subject.  The  exist- 
ence of  rights  of  common  is  one  of  the  traces 
of  the  ancient  system  still  remaining  in  our  law, 
but  its  real  significance  was  for  a  long  time  ob- 
scured by  the  feudal  theories  on  which  the  law 
of  real  property  has  been  based. 

88  Again,  we  are  so  accustomed   to  regard  landesseiuiaiiy 
private  property  in  land  as  being  essentially  the  different  in 
same  in   nature  and  character   as    property  in   propertTin The 
things  of  human  production,  the  result  of  an  in-  productions  of 
dividual's  labour,  that  we  assume  the  right  of  an  labom- 
owner  in  the  land  on  which  his  house  is  built  is, 

and  ought  to  be,  as  absolute  and  unlimited  as 
his  right  in  the  house  itself,  which  he  has  himself 
built,  or  employed  others  to  build  for  him. 

89  Yet    we  know,  as  soon  as  we  come  to  ,,Th?ri^ht,of 
think  of  it,  that  the  right  of  "eminent  domain  "  main." 
always  has  existed,  and  still  exists  in  the  State, 

and  by  virtue  of  it,  scarcely  a  session  passes 
without  the  Legislature  taking  possession  and 
control  of  many  acres  of  land,  with  or  without 
the  so-called  owner's  consent,  in  order  that  it 
may  be  devoted  to  some  public  purpose,  such  as 
railways,  roads,  canals,  &c.  Strange  as  it  may 
appear  to  those  who  have  not  previously 
thought  of  it,  in  England  no  such  thing  as  the 
absolute  private  ownership  of  land  has  ever 
been  recognised  in  law.  The  absolute  and 
ultimate  owner  of  all  lands  is  the  crown,  and 
the  highest  interest  that  a  subject  can  hold 
therein  is  a  tenancy.  The  largest  estate  known 
to  the  law,  that  in  fee  simple,  is  after  all  only  a 
holding  in  which  the  owner  of  the  fee  stands  to 
the  lord  in  the  relation  of  a  tenant.  All  estates 
in  land  would  therefore  fall  under  this  heading. 


54 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  import- 
ant truths  of 
political  econo- 
my relating  to 
land 


Private  pro- 
perty in  land 
fundamental  1  y 
wrong  and 
unjust  in  prin- 
ciple, and  must 
be  abolished. 


The  primitive 
system  of  land 
tenure  right 
and  just  in 


We  must,  therefore,  be  very  much  on  our  guard 
as  to  what  assumptions  and  preconceptions  we 
allow  to  pass  unquestioned. 

Section  ii. 

80  There  is  another  important  consideration 
to  be  borne  carefully  in  mind.  But  little  more 
than  a  century  ago  there  lived  one  who  is  re- 
garded as  the  father  and  founder  of  a  new 
science  which  has  much  to  say  in  reference  to 
land.  Political  economy  has  startled  us  with 
some  remarkable  propositions.  Not  only  has  it 
shown  as  the  results  of  experience  that  great  evils 
have  resulted  to  the  community  in  past  times 
from  the  institution  of  private  property  in  land, 
but  it  has  declared  that  private  property  in  land 
is  fundamentally  wrong  and  unjust  in  principle. 

91  Herbert    Spencer    has    taught    us    that 
every  man  is  free  to  use  the  earth  for  the  satis- 
faction  of  his  wants,   provided    he   allows   all 
others   the   same    liberty,   and    therefore    pure 
Equity  does  not  permit  property  in  land.      He 
goes  on  to  assert  that  the  right  of  mankind  at 
large  to  the  earth's  surface  is  still   valid  ;    all 
deeds,  customs,  and  laws  notwithstanding.    Not 
only  have  present  land  tenures  an  indefensible 
origin,  but  it  is  impossible  to  discern  any  mode 
in  which  land  CAN  rightly  become  private  pro- 
perty.    And  we  are  finally  told  that  the  theory 
of  the  co-heirship  of  all  men  to  the  soil  is  con- 
sistent with  the  highest  civilization  ;    and  that, 
however   difficult   it    may  be   to   embody   that 
theory  in  fact,  Equity  sternly  commands  it  to  be 
done. 

92  When    we   regard   the    history    of  land 
tenure  in  England  in  the  light  of  such  proposi- 
tions as  these,  we  are  forced   into  a  humiliating 


THE    FUTURE   OF   LAND   TENURE.  55 

confession,  very  painful   to  those  who  have  in-   principle ;   ti 

•;•*•  f  111  r-»H  £»rt-»    c  \rcii* 

dulged  a  belief  in  the  progressive  development 
of  civilization.  Our  direction  of  movement  has  unjust. 
not,  we  learn,  been  progressive,  but  retrogressive. 
The  customs  of  land  tenure  in  primitive  times 
started  out  by  recognising  the  ownership  of 
land  to  be  in  the  whole  community,  not  in 
individuals,  and  it  gave  substantially  equal 
rights  to  all.  From  this  starting  point  we 
have  not,  as  we  have  fondly  fancied,  risen  to 
loftier  heights,  but  have  despicably  fallen. 

93  If,  then,  political  economy  is  not  in  error, 
and  no  one  has  successfully  proved  it  to  be  so, 
we  are  manifestly  going  on  the  wrong  track,  and 
however  unwilling  we  may  be  to  recognise  the 
necessity  of  coming  to  a  pause  and  perhaps  re- 
tracing some  of  our  steps,  there  is  obviously  no 
help  for  it.     Otherwise   we   must   be  content  in 
the  future  to  sink  deeper  and  deeper  into  the 
mire,  instead  of  setting  our  feet  once  more  on 
firm  ground. 

94  These    considerations     are  deserving    of 
great  weight  when  we  are  considering  the  futuie 
of   land  tenure.     Questions   as   to   the   law   or 
custom    of    primogeniture,     the    abolition     of 
entails,  even  the  establishment  of  a  compulsory  rights? 
system   of  registration  of  deeds,  important  and- 
pressing  as   these  otherwise  might  be,  become 
mere  trivialities  when  compared  with  that  ques- 
tion of  supreme  importance  as  to  how  we  are 

to  restore  to  the  whole  community  its  rights  in 
the  land.  No  amendment  of  the  land  question 
can  be  of  any  avail  which  ignores  that  gigantic 
wrong  ;  and  when  that  has  been  redressed,  many 
of  the  other  minor  evils  which  now  trouble  us 
will  have  disappeared  of  themselves  from  the 
platform  of  public  discussion. 


56          THE   LAND   AND   TPIE   COMMUNITY. 

Section  iii. 

what  is  the       95   The  whole  problem  of  the  land   question 
problemofland    ..          ,         r          .       ,  . 

tenure  ?  lies,  therefore,  in  this  : — 

How  can  we  reconcile  the  right  of  the  in- 
dividual possessor  in  the  land  (which  is  acknow- 
ledged to  be  necessary  to  enable  him  to  reap 
the  fruits  of  his  toil)  with  the  continuous  right 
of  ownership  in  the  community  ?  This  was 
the  problem  which  our  predecessors  in  early 
primitive  times  failed  to  solve,  and  so  drifted  into 
the  institution  of  private  ownership  of  land,  and 
all  its  consequent  evils. 
The  solution  QQ  NOW  a  satisfactory  solution  of  this  problem 

of  the  problem.    ,  T  .    .    J.  -  .". 

has,  I  venture  to  think,  been  found,  and  the  an- 
swer is :  To  appropriate  all  ground  rents  by 
taxation,  and  apply  the  proceeds  for  the  benefit 
of  tlie  wJiole  community.  This  would  be  a 
simple  expedient,  and  it  would  be  effective  for 
the  purpose.  While  it  would  disturb  no  one 
in  the  possession  of  his  land,  it  would,  never- 
theless, fully  assert  for  the  community  the 
ownership  of  the  land. 

The  difficul-       97   jf    then,  it  were    possible  for    the  corn- 
ties   arising  ..  r      i  ^-     i 
from  the  past,   munity  to  start  out  afresh  on  an   entirely  new 

career,  utterly  regardless  of  the  past,  this 
system  would  satisfy  all  the  requirements  of 
the  case.  Unfortunately,  we  know  we  cannot 
so  easily  ignore  the  past.  Nevertheless,  we 
must  by  no  means  conclude  that  it  is  wholly 
useless  to  discuss  this  solution.  It  is  an  im- 
mense step  gained,  when  we  know  not  merely 
that  a  true  and  just  system  must  be  possible  to 
exist,  but  also  to  know  what  it  is,  and  be  able 
to  describe  it. 

Nrfed°    be        ^   Herbert    Spencer,    in    speaking    of    the 
insuperable.       claims    of    some   who    have    invested    honestly 


THE  FUTURE  OF  LAND  TENURE. 


57 


earned  wealth  in  land,  says,  "  To  justly 
estimate  and  liquidate  the  claims  of  such, 
is  one  of  the  most  intricate  problems  society 
will  one  day  have  to  solve."  Others  have  pro- 
posed to  cut  rather  than  attempt  to  untie  the 
Gordian  knot.  Time  and  space  forbid  us  here 
to  enter  into  the  discussion,  but  we  are  at  any 
rate  unwilling  to  believe  that  Mr.  Spencer's 
problem  is  absolutely  unsolvable.  He  who  can 
succeed  in  solving  it  will  deservedly  be  accounted 
a  great  benefactor  to  the  community. 

Section  iv. 

99  Meanwhile,  what  should  be  the  attitude 
of  the  community  towards  the  land  question, 
when  it  comes  under  discussion,  both  inside  and 
outside  of  Parliament  ?  Here  we  may  observe 
that  the  different  sections  of  the  Democracy  of 
England  in  this  present  year  of  our  Lord  1889 
occupy  a  unique  position,  such  as  they  have 
never  occupied  before.  It  may  be  said  that  the 
last,  or  youngest  of  them,  has  but  just  come 
into  legislative  power.  It  becomes  them,  there- 
fore, to  use  the  more  care  and  circumspection  in 
order  that  they  may  not  be  led  to  take  any  false 
step  before  they  have  had  sufficient  time  and 
opportunity  to  calmly  decide  in  what  direction 
they  should  endeavour  to  move.  They  have  not 
yet  been  formally  called  upon  to  express  any 
opinion  on  the  history  of  the  past  ;  they  have 
uttered  no  word  of  condonation  for  the  wrongs 
of  the  past ;  they  have  given  no  pledge  that  they 
will  either  accept  the  situation  as  they  now  find 
it,  or  that  they  will  insist  on  undoing  so  much  of 
the  wrongdoings  as  is  not  yet  beyond  rectifica- 
tion, They  have  neither  yet  called  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  wronedoincf  class  to  Cfive  an 


The  proper 
attitude  of  the 
community  at 
the  present 
time.  A 
favourable 
juncture.  The 
Democracies  as 
yet  unpledged. 
The  past  of  the 
land  question 
not  to  be  re- 
garded  as 
closed  against 
re-investi- 
gation. 


58          THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

account  of  its  deeds,  nor  yet  given  any  pledge 
that  they  should  be  permitted  to  go  "  scot  free." 
The  whole  question  up  to  the  present  remains 
open  for  a  calm  and  unprejudiced  judgment, 
which  may  prepare  the  way  for  a  wise  and  just 
settlement.  It  would  be  a  grievous  mistake,  we 
think,  to  yield  to  the  idea  that  the  question  of 
the  past  is  now  for  ever  closed  up,  and  cannot 
be  reopened  for  a  reinvestigation. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE     ALLEGORY. 

100  THERE  are  three  branches,  we  may  say 
(to  use  a  figure  of  speech),  of  the  family  of  De- 
mocracy now  living  and  grown  up,  in  England. 
Their  family  history  goes  a  long  way  back,  but 
the  records  of  it  are  by  no  means  without  in- 
terest. Long  time  ago  they  came  of  a  noble 
race,  their  mother  being  a  royal  dame  of  ancient 
Saxon  lineage,  who  died  while  her  offspring 
were  still  but  babes.  She  left  three  comely 
boys,  for  whom  there  was  in  store  a  goodly 
patrimony,  a  truly  royal  domain,  which  she  had 
possessed  during  her  lifetime  in  her  own  right. 
At  her  decease  she  committed  the  care  of  them 
to  their  father,  Feudal  King,  and  he  solemnly 
undertook  to  take  good  care  both  of  them  and 
their  estate  ;  but  in  a  little  while  after  their 
mother's  death,  in  spite  of  all  his  profuse  pro- 
fessions of  attachment  for  them,  and  of  his 
promise  of  steady  devotion  to  their  interests,  it 
soon  became  evident  by  his  conduct  that  this 
was  all  mere  words  only,  that  he  had  no  real 
regard  for  them  in  his  heart.  Instead  of  that, 
he  began  to  behave  to  them  as  an  unnatural 
step-father  might  perhaps  have  done,  and  then 
soon  came  to  look  upon  them  merely  as  a  means 
by  which  he  could  obtain  some  special  emolu- 


60          THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

ments  by  appointing  himself  as  overseer  to  their 
estate.  His  conduct  became  at  length  so  in- 
tensely selfish,  and  so  neglectful  of  his  duty  to 
care  for  the  children,  that  he  began  to  fall  into 
much  disrepute,  and  was  contemned  and  disliked 
by  everybody. 

101  At  length  one  Simon  de  Montfort  suc- 
ceeded   in    getting    the    boys    from    under   his 
immediate   care,   and   placed    them    under  the 
quasi-guardianship    and  tutorship  of   an    uncle 
of    theirs,    whose    name    was     Landed     Aris- 
tocracy.    He  had  often  denounced  the  shame- 
ful conduct  of  old  Feudal   King   towards   the 
boys,  and  had  sometimes  ventured  a  kind  word 
on  their  behalf.     He  was,  probably,  moved  to  do 
this  sometimes  through  a  feeling  of  pique  and 
jealousy  against    Feudal    King,  for    there  was 
much  rivalry  and  animosity  between  them  in 
those  days.      So    it   was    thought    their    uncle 
would  behave   more  kindly  and   justly   to   the 
boys  than  their  father  had  done.     For  a  time 
this  was  actually  the  case,  but  unfortunately  it 
did  not  always  continue  so. 

102  Old    Feudal    King   at  length  becoming 
feeble,  he  was  finally  ousted  from  any  share  in 
the  guardianship  of  the  children,  and  gradually 
had  less  and  less  influence  in  the  management  of 
their  estate.    His  position  and  influence  then  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  uncle,  Landed  Aristocracy. 
He  then,  melancholy  to  relate,  having  now  the 
full  control  of  everything,  and  no  one  in  a  posi- 
tion to  check  or  interfere  with  his  management 
in  any  way,  fell  under  temptation,  and  though 
the  boys  were  growing  rather  too  big  to  suffer  in 
person  from  ill-treatment  by  him,  yet  they  were 
not  old  enough  to  perceive  and  understand  all 
his  doings  with  regard  to  their  estate. 


THE   ALLEGORY.  6 1 

103  Now  Landed  Aristocracy  was  due  some 
small  interest  in  the  estate  as  owner  on  his  own 
account.     It  was  very  small  as  compared  with 
the   joint  estate  of  the  three  brothers,  and  he 
often  thought  that  he  deserved  to  have  much 
more,  and  so  he  would  not  unfrequently  tamper 
with  the  boundary  lines  in  the  map  which  des- 
cribed the  estate,  and  he  also  removed  the  fences 
and  landmarks  which  marked  off  his  portion  of 
the  estate,  so  that  they  might  include  a  little 
more    than    properly    belonged    to    him.      Of 
course  he  did  not  do  this  when  the  boys  were 
watching,  but    only  when  they   were  away    at 
school  or  at  their  work  (for  they  were  all  in- 
dustrious   boys    and    did   not   care   to   dawdle 
around  all  the    day  as  their  uncle  often  did). 

104  In   addition  to  this,  there  were  on    the 
large  common,  which  was  included  in  the  boys' 
domain,  certain  portions  called  "  wastes,"  which 
lay  somewhat  apart  from  any  beaten  tracks,  and 
were  seldom  visited.     He  knew  that  they  could 
easily  be  made  valuable,  and  so  he  proceeded  to 
put    his   own    fences   around    them,   and    then 
claimed  them  as  part   of  his  own  estate.     So 
this  went  on  more  and  more,  till  he  grew  bolder 
by   habit,   and    long  immunity  from  detection, 
and   he  then    ceased   to   take  his  wonted  pre- 
cautions to  prevent  himself  from  being  detected 
by  the  boys. 

105  Meanwhile,  as  years  passed  away,  they 
grew  up  to  be  young  men,  and  began  to  look 
around    their    estate   somewhat    more,   and   to 
realize    what    a    noble    domain     it    was     that 
belonged   to   them.      They    did   not   for   some 
time  find  out  what  had  been  going  on  about 
the  fences  and  wastes,  but  a  suspicion  crept  into 
the    mind  of  the   eldest   one,  which    was  acci- 


62          THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

dentally  confirmed  one  day,  when  the  two  elder 
ones  having  gone  out  for  a  walk  and  ramble 
across  the  common,  in  the  midst  of  their  frolic 
came  upon  their  uncle  just  as  he  was  engaged 
in  the  very  act  of  enclosing  another  bit  of  waste. 
Some  very  angry  words  followed,  and  in  the 
end  the  uncle  was  obliged  to  desist,  and  had  to 
retire  beaten,  and  perhaps,  for  the  first  time,  a 
little  ashamed  of  his  attempted  robbery,  now 
that  he  had  been  found  out. 

106  In  due  course  of  time  all  the  three  young 
men  came  of  age,  the  eldest  in  1832,  the  second 
in    1867,    and   the    youngest   in    1885.     There 
were  marked  differences  between  them  in  their 
dispositions    and   characters,   the   eldest   being 
polished  in  manners,  given  to  trading,  and  fond 
of  books  in   his  leisure  hours  ;  the  second  one 
being    more    town-bred,   and    skilful    with   his 
hands,  while  the  youngest  son  was  in   all  res- 
pects a  genuine  rustic,  being  fond  of  working 
out  of  doors,  and  exhibiting  a  decided  aversion 
to  books.     In  spite   of  these  differences,  how- 
ever, they  were  all  considered  very  fine  young 
men,   and  gave   promise   of  great   energy  and 
ability  in    their    more    mature    manhood.     The 
names  by  which  they  were   commonly  known 
had  reference  to  their  peculiar  tastes,  the  eldest 
being  called  Merchant,  the  second,  Artisan,  and 
the  youngest,  Peasant. 

107  Their   uncle   and  whilom  guardian  had 
watched  their  growing  strength  and  vigour  not 
altogether  with   the    becoming  pride  that    one 
would  have  expected  him  to  feel   in  his  former 
charges ;  and,  strive  to  hide  it  as  he  may    he 
cannot  always  successfully  repress  the  nervous 
anxiety  that  will  betray  itself  in  his  countenance 
whenever  he  perceives  the  young  men  preparing 


THE   ALLEGORY.  63 

to  set  out  to  take  a  survey  of  their  grand  and 
noble  estate,  now  that  it  has  passed  into  their 
joint  possession.  He  has  already  confessed  his 
fears  to  a  sympathizing  friend  with  whom  he 
has  taken  counsel  in  the  matter,  that  the  young 
men  will  be  very  angry  with  him  when  they 
learn  the  whole  truth  about  his  management  of 
their  joint  estate,  and  he  would  gladly  pro- 
pitiate them  now  if  he  knew  how.  He  has  a 
very  vivid  recollection  of  the  angry  storm 
which  fell  on  his  head  when  in  1 876  or  there- 
abouts he  was  caught  by  two  of  the  brothers 
as  he  was  attempting  to  appropriate  a  little 
waste,  which  he  himself  knew  well  the  value  of, 
but  of  which,  to  his  surprise,  the  boys  had  also 
learnt  to  appreciate  the  value. 

108  Since  that  day  he  had  not  ventured  upon 
any  more  small  depredations.    Nevertheless,  had 
it  not  been  for  a  not  unreasonable  fear  that  there 
would  soon  be  a  day  of  reckoning  coming  for  him, 
in  which  the  three  brothers  would  unite  in  calling 
upon  him  to  render  an  account  of  his  manage- 
ment of  the  estate  during  all  those  years  of  their 
minority — had  it  not  been  for  this,  he  would 
many  times  have  chuckled  over  the  many  nice 
little  bits  of  waste  which  he  had  been  able  to 
pick  from  the  common,  and  which  he  had  found 
could  be  turned  to  such  profitable  account. 

109  I     shall   be   very   much    interested     in 
observing  what  will  shortly  take  place.     I  fear 
very  much  there  will  be  stormy  times  ahead. 
Old  Feudal  King  is  still  alive,  though  in  extreme 
old  age,  and  overcome  with  decrepitude.     He 
long  ago  retired  upon  his  pension,  and  no  one 
ever  thinks  now  of  consulting  him  about  any- 
thing.   But  as  far  as  he  understands  at  all  about 
it,   he   has,    I    fancy,   a   lurking   sympathy   for 


64         THK   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

Landed  Aristocracy.  They  are  now  no  longer 
rivals  as  they  once  were,  and  so  he  looks  with 
leniency  upon  the  uncle's  doings,  remembering 
his  own  peccadilloes  in  former  years.  It  is 
plain,  however,  that  Landed  Aristocracy  and  the 
three  youthful  Democracies  will  have  to  arrange 
their  quarrel  without  his  intervention.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  the  uncle  is  very  uneasy  in  mind, 
for  he  too  is  now  very  advanced  in  years  and 
has  lost  much  of  his  manly  vigour.  He  is 
conscious,  therefore,  that  if  they  should  call 
upon  him  to  make  restitution  of  his  pilferings, 
he  could  not  hope  to  hold  his  position  by  force 
against  those  three  sturdy  young  men. 

110  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  will  try  to 
persuade  the  young  men  to  let  bygones  be 
bygones,  and  that  he  will  promise  to  amend 
in  the  future,  if  they  will  only  not  trouble  him 
by  inquiring  too  minutely  into  the  past.  But  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that  his  efforts  to  cajole 
them  will  not  altogether  succeed.  The  young 
men  have  been  putting  their  heads  together  a 
good  deal  of  late,  and  I  can  see  by  the  angry 
looks  on  their  countenances,  and  by  their 
occasionally  threatening  gestures  when  they 
seem  to  be  speaking  of  their  uncle,  that  they 
arc  very  full  of  indignation  within  themselves  at 
the  way  they  have  discovered  he  has  been  for 
so  many  years  treating  their  estate — almost  as 
if  it  were  wholly  his  own,  and  they  had  no  right 
whatever  in  any  part  of  it.  It  has  become 
known  to  them  that  he  has  endeavoured  to 
get  more  and  more  of  it  into  his  own  hands, 
and  that  he  would  if  he  could  have  defrauded 
them  entirely  out  of  it,  and  have  turned  them 
adrift  into  the  world,  penniless  and  unprovided 
for. 


THE   ALLEGORY.  65 

111  They  have  not  said  a  single  word  yet 
in  condonation  of  any  of  his  offences,  but  have 
maintained  a  discreet,  though  ominous  silence, 
until  they  shall  have  had  time   to  enquire  fully 
into  the  whole  past  management.    I  am  inclined 
to  think  that  instead  of  condoning  his  offences 
or  granting  him  a  bill  of  indemnity,  on  a  mere 
empty  promise  of  his  future  good  behaviour,  it 
is  far  more  likely  that  they  will  call  upon  him 
to  return   those  profitable  bits  of  waste  which 
he  pilfered  from  the  common  ;  and  I  should  not 
be  very  much  surprised  if  they  also  called  upon 
him  to  make  good  out  of  his  own  portion  of 
their  common  estate  for  the  loss  and  damage 
which  they  find  they  have  suffered   through  his 
long-accustomed   habit  of  appropriating  to  his 
own  use  all  the  rents  of  their  estate  previous  to 
the  time  of  their  coming  of  age. 

112  I    have  been  told    also,  though   I  can 
scarcely  credit  it,  that  the   uncle  has  cherished 
some  kind  of  an  idea  that  he  would  obtain  from 
the   young   men  some    "  compensation "    when 
they  took  the  control  of   the  estate  into  their 
own   hands,  because  of   course  he  would  then 
have  no  more  opportunities  for  pilfering  as  he 
had  been  accustomed  to  do.    But  really  I  cannoc 
believe  that,  hardened  as  he  is,  he  can  have  the 
conscience  to  expect  that.     However,  we  shall 
see.     I  confess  I  am  very  greatly  grieved  when 
I  think  how  much  this  uncle  has  fallen  in  every- 
one's estimation  ;  for  it  is  a  fact  that  before  these 
revelations  were  made,  all  men  did  esteem  hini 
as  a  noble  and  worthy  gentleman. 


BOOK   II. 


ON    COMPENSATION. 

IN     REFERENCE     TO     THE      PROPOSED 
RESUMPTION  OF  LAND  BY  THE  COMMUNITY. 


INTRODUCTION. 

113  IN    the    two    preliminary    chapters    of     An  expiana- 
Book  II.   there  is  set  forth  in  brief  before  the  tion< 
reader  a  statement  or  synopsis  of  the  principles 

to  which  we  appeal  in  the  arguments  used  in 
the  subsequent  chapters.  We  give  them  without 
comment  of  our  own,  merely  accompanying 
them  with  explanatory  passages  from  different 
sources  to  illustrate  and  make  clear  their  mean- 
ing. We  adopt  this  course  in  order  to  enable 
the  reader  at  the  outset  to  see  clearly  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  our  argument  is  based,  and  to 
enable  him  likewise  to  point  out  with  ease  and 
exactness  the  precise  ground  and  origin  of  any 
disagreement  or  demurring  which  he  may  be 
disposed  to  make  with  the  argument  as  it 
proceeds. 

114  We    subjoin    then    in  Chapter  I.  state-      The  Plan  ? 
ments  in  reference  to  the  fundamental  principle  of  Bookeii.nS 
individual  and  social  life,   a   summary   of    the 

natural  rights  of  man,  a  declaration  of  the 
function  of  Government,  and  some  principles  of 
law  ;  and  in  Chapter  II.  these  are  supplemented 
by  some  axiomatic  propositions  in  reference  to 
land.  Beyond  this  point  the  argument  proceeds 
in  a  regular  way,  leading  up  to  an  answer  to  the 
question  of  "  compensation  "  in  reference  to  the 
proposed  resumption  of  land  by  the  community, 
and  the  consequent  changes  which  would  follow 
thereupon. 


CHAPTER    I. 

FUNDAMENTAL     PRINCIPLES. 
The  Funda-       115    'j  jie  pirsf    and  Fundamental  Principle 

mental   Pnnci-        _    T     ,.    .  ,       ,          ,  c,       •    /   7-  • /- 

pie  of  indivi-  oj  Indtv idital ana  social  Life. 

dual  Life.  Every  man  has  freedom  to  do  all  t/iat  he  wills, 

provided  that  he  infringes  not  the  equal  freedom 
of  any  other  man. — (See  Herbert  Spencer's 
Social  Statics,  page  127.) 

"  Gcd  wills  man's  happiness.  Man's 
happiness  can  only  be  produced  by  the 
exercise  of  his  faculties.  Then  God  wills 
that  he  should  exercise  his  faculties.  But 
to  exercise  his  faculties  he  must  have 
liberty  to  do  all  that  his  faculties  naturally 
impel  him  to  do.  Then  God  intends  that 
he  should  have  that  liberty.  Therefore  he 
has  a  RIGHT  to  that  liberty.  *  *  * 
Wherefore  we  arrive  at  the  general 
proposition  that  every  man  may  claim 
the  fullest  liberty  to  exercise  his  faculties 
compatible  with  this  possession  of  like 
liberty  by  every  other  man." 

— Social  Statics,  page  93. 
The  natural       \\Q   rf/ie  natural  rights  of  man. 

Each  one  (as  against  all  others,  and  so  far  as 
interference  ivith  him  by  them  is  concerned)  ts  en- 
titled to  himself,  to  his  life,  to  his  liberty,  to  the 


FUNDAMENTAL   PRINCIPLES.  71 

fruits  of  his  exertions,  to  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness ; 

(The  limitation.)  Subject  only  to  the  equal 
correlative  rights  of  every  other  human  being. 

See  Social  Statics,  page  108,  in  reference  to 
the  Equality  of  human  rights. 

See  also  page  130  as  to  the  rights  of  life  and 
personal  liberty,  as  follows  : — 

"  These  are  such  self-evident  corollaries  from 
our  first  principle  as  scarcely  to  need  a 
separate  statement.  If  every  man  has 
freedom  to  do  all  that  he  wills,  provided  he 
infringes  not  the  equal  freedom  of  any 
other  man,  it  is  manifest  that  he  has 
a  claim  to  his  life,  for  without  it  he  can  do 
nothing  that  he  has  willed  ;  and  to  his 
personal  liberty ;  for  the  withdrawal  of  it 
partially,  if  not  wholly,  restrains  him  from  the 
fulfilment  of  his  will.  It  is  just  as  clear,  too, 
that  each  man  is  forbidden  to  deprive  his 
fellow  of  life  or  liberty ;  inasmuch  as  he 
cannot  do  this  without  breaking  the  law, 
which,  in  asserting  his  freedom,  declares  that 
he  shall  not  infringe  '  the  equal  freedom  of 
any  other.'  For  he  who  is  killed  or  enslaved 
is  obviously  no  longer  equally  free  with  his 
killer  or  enslaver." 

117   See    also  page    131,  on    "the  right  to      The  right  to 
the  use  of  the  earth."  the  ,use  of  the 

earth. 

I.  Given  a  race  of  human  beings  having 
like  claims  to  pursue  the  objects  of  their 
desires — given  a  world  adapted  to  the  gratifica- 
tion of  those  desires — a  world  into  which  such 
beings  are  similarly  born,  and  it  unavoidably 
follows  that  they  have  equal  rights  to  the  use 
of  this  world.  For  if  each  of  them  "  has 


72         THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

freedom  to  do  all  that  he  wills,  provided  he 
infringes  not  the  equal  freedom  of  any  other," 
then  each  of  them  is  free  to  use  the  earth  for 
the  satisfaction  of  his  wants,  provided  he 
allows  all  others  the  same  liberty.  And  con- 
versely, it  is  manifest  that  no  one,  or  part  of 
them,  may  use  the  earth  in  such  a  way  as  to 
prevent  the  rest  from  similarly  using  it  ;  seeing 
that  to  do  this  is  to  assume  greater  freedom 
than  the  rest,  and  consequently  to  break  the 
law. 
The  function  1  18  The  Function  of  Government. 

TJie  primary  function   of  government   is    to 
secure  to  all  its  people  their  natural  rights. 

It  is  a  perversion  and  abuse  of  government  if  it 
perform  other  functions  otherwise  than  in  sub- 
ordination to  that  primary  function,  or  if  it  make 
and  enforce  laws  which  abridge  or  deny  those 
natural  rights. 
illustration  HQ  jn  illustration  of  the  natural  rights  of 

irom   Magna  ,     .,        r  r 

darta,     A.u.   men,  and  the  Junction  of  government,  we  may 
I2I5-  quote  the  following  extracts   from  famous  "  De- 

clarations" solemnly  made  at  great  historical 
crises  under  somewhat  similar  circumstances, 
though  in  different  ages  and  by  different 
peoples. 

i.  From  Magna  Charta,  A.D.  1215  : 

"  No  freeman  shall  be  deprived  of  his  life, 
liberty  or  property,  except  by  the  law  of  the 
land  and  the  judgment  of  his  peers." 


illustration        igQ   2.  The  Petition  of  Rights,  A.D.  1628: 

from     Petition 

of  Rights,  A.D.  "That  no  man  hereafter  be  compelled  to 

make  or  yield  any  gift,  loan,  benevolence,  tax 
or  such  like  charge  without  common  con- 
sent by  Act  of  Parliament  :  and  that  no  free- 
man be  imprisoned  or  detained." 


FUNDAMENTAL    PRINCIPLES. 


73 


It  recited  the  statutes  that  protected  the 
subject  against  arbitrary  taxation,  against  loans 
and  benevolences,  against  punishment,  outlawry 
or  deprivation  of  goods,  otherwise  than  by  lawful 
judgment  of  his  peers,  against  arbitrary  imprison- 
ment without  stated  charge,  against  billeting  of 
soldiery  on  the  people,  or  enactment  of  martial 
law  in  time  of  peace. 

121  3.  The  Declaration  of  Rights,  A.D.  1689. 

It  recited  the  resolve  of  the  Lords  and  Com- 
mons to  assert  the  ancient  rights  and  liberties  of 
English  subjects.  It  denied  the  right  of  any 
King  to  suspend  or  dispense  with  laws,  or  to 
exact  money  save  by  consent  of  Parliament.  It 
asserted  for  the  subject  a  right  to  petition,  to  a 
free  choice  of  repesentatives  in  Parliament,  and 
to  a  pure  and  merciful  administration  of  justice. 
It  declared  the  right  of  both  Houses  to  liberty 
of  debate.  It  demanded  securities  for  the  free 
exercise  of  religion,  and  bound  the  new  sovereign 
to  maintain  the  laws  and  liberties  of  the  nation. 

See  Green's  History  of  the  English  People. 

122  4.  From  the  American   Declaration  of 
Independence,  made  July  4th,  1776: 

"  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident ; 
that  all  men  are  created  equal  ;  that  they  are 
endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalien- 
able rights  ;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  That  to  secure 
these  rights,  governments  are  instituted  among 
men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed  ;  that  whenever  any 
form  of  government  becomes  destructive  of 
these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to 
alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  a  new 
government,  laying  its  foundation  on  such 


Illustration 
from  Declara- 
tion of  Rights, 
A.D.  1689. 


Illustration 
from  American 
Declaration  of 
Independence, 
A.D.  1776. 


74 


THE  LAND  AND   THE   COMMUNITY". 


from  Constitu*- 
tion  of  United 

States,     A.D. 

1789. 


principles,  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such 
form  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to 
effect  their  safety  and  happiness." 

123  5.  From  the  Preamble  to  the  Constitution 
°f  the  United  States,  adopted  September  I5th, 
1787,  and  ratified  and  made  law  March  4th, 

.Lol. 

1789:— 

"  We,  the  People  of  the  United  States,  in 
order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish 
justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for 
the  common  defence,  promote  the  general 
welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to 
ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and 
establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United 
States  of  America." 

illustration       124  6.  The     French    "  Declaration     of    the 
from  French   Rights  of  Man  and  of  Citizens,"  issued  by  the 

Declaration   of    ,  T  °.  .         ,    A  i_«      • 

the  Rights  of  National  Assembly  in  1789  : 

M  a  n,    A  .  D  . 

1789.  "  1  he     representatives    of    the    people    of 

France,  formed  into  a  National  Assembly, 
considering  that  ignorance,  neglect,  or  con- 
tempt of  human  rights  are  the  sole  causes 
of  public  misfortunes  and  corruptions  of 
government,  have  resolved  to  set  forth,  in  a 
solemn  declaration,  those  natural,  imprescrip- 
tible and  inalienable  rights,  and  do  recognize 
and  declare,  in  the  presence  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  and  with  the  hope  of  His  blessing  and 
favour,  the  following  sacred  rights  of  men  and 
of  citizens  : 

"  (i.)  Men  are  born  and  always  continue  free 
and  equal  in  respect  of  their  rights.  Civil  dis- 
tinctions, therefore,  can  only  be  founded  on 
public  ability. 

"  ("2.)  The  end  of  all  political  associations  is 


FUNDAMENTAL   PRINCIPLES.  75 

the  preservation  of  the  natural  and  impre- 
scriptible rights  of  man,  and  these  rights  are 
liberty,  property,  security,  and  resistance  of 
oppression." 

125  We  may  add  also  the  following  extracts  illustration 
from  the  Liturgy,  showing  what  the  Church  Lkurgy  of  the 
teaches  her  children  to  pray  for  on  behalf  of  Church  of 
their  rulers:- 


„  ,       T  .  can    Episcopal 

From  the  Litany  :  Church. 

"  That  it  may  please  Thee  to  bless  and 
preserve  all  Christian  rulers  and  magistrates, 
giving  them  grace  to  execute  justice  and 
to  maintain  truth." 

From  the  Prayer  for  Parliament  and  for  Con- 
gress, to  be  used  during  their  Session  : 

"  That  Thou  wouldest  be  pleased  to  direct 
and  prosper  'all  their  consultations,  to  the 
advancement  of  Thy  glory,  the  good  of  Thy 
Church,  the  safety,  honour,  and  welfare  of 
Thy  people  ;  that  all  things  may  be  so 
ordered  and  settled  by  their  endeavours  upon 
the  best  and  surest  foundations,  that  peace 
and  happiness,  truth  and  justice,  religion  and 
piety  may  be  established  among  us  for  all 
generations." 

From  the  Prayer  for  the  Church  Militant  : 

"  We  beseech  Thee  also,  so  to  direct  and 
dispose  the  hearts  of  all  Christian  Rulers, 
that  they  may  truly  and  impartially  ad- 
minister justice,  to  the  punishment  of  wicked- 
ness and  vice,  and  to  the  maintenance  of  Thy 
true  religion  and  virtue." 

From  the  Lord's  Prayer  : 


76        THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

"  Thy  kingdom  come,  Thy  will  be  done  on 
earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven.     Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread." 
Some  princi-       126  Some  Principles  of  Law. 

pies  of  Law. 

i.  That  the  power  of  the  government  to 
make  laws  for  the  protection  of  natural  rights 
is  inalienable  ;  such  power  being  so  indispens- 
able to  the  public  welfare  that  it  cannot  be 
bargained  away  by  contract. 

ii.  That  under  the  laws  at  any  time  provided 
for  the  protection  of  natural  rights,  individuals 
may  acquire  property  rights  which  are  unas- 
sailable and  must  be  respected  by  other  in- 
dividuals. 

iii.  That  property  so  acquired  is  held  subject 
to  the  right  of  the  legislature  to  qualify  or 
destroy  it  at  will  according  to  its  judgment  of 
what  the  public  interest  requires,  and  without 
regard  to  investments  that  may  have  been  made 
or  calculations  based  on  the  actions  of  a  prior 
legislature,  even  though  such  action  took  the 
form  of  a  contract. 

Note. — See  Butchers'  Union  Company  versus 
Crescent  City  Company  1 1 1  U.S.  746  and 
Slaughter-house  Cases  16  Wall  36,  in  which 
these  principles  of  law  are  so  interpreted  in  re- 
ference to  the  matter  of  public  health. 


CHAPTER  II. 

AXIOMS   AND   ASSUMPTIONS   IN    RE- 
FERENCE  TO   LAND. 

127  Some  important  propositions  relating  to 
land,  described  in  terms  suggested  by  judicial 
rulings  on  public  health  in  the  legal  cases 
previously  mentioned. 

i.  The  due  regulation  by  law  of  the  use  of 
the  land  within  the  government's  jurisdiction  is 
indispensable  to  the  public  welfare,  for  so  only 
can  the  natural  rights  of  all  the  people  be 
secured. 

ii.  Hence  government  cannot  deprive  itself 
or  be  deprived  of  the  power  to  regulate  the  use 
of  land  at  any  time  and  in  any  manner  that  is 
adapted  to  secure  to  all  the  people  their 
natural  rights — z.  e.  such  power  cannot  in 
any  manner  be  suspended  or  abdicated  or 
otherwise  alienated. 

iii.  Under  the  laws  that  at  any  time  exist 
individuals  may  acquire  property  in  land,  which 
must  be  respected  by  their  fellows,  and  such 
property,  according  to  its  nature  as  determined 
by  existing  law,  they  may  use  or  abuse,  sell, 
donate  or  devise,  substantially  as  they  please. 

iv.  But  no  property  in  land  can  be  acquired 
except  subject  to  the  limitation  that  it  may  at 


78        THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

any  time  be  qualified  or  destroyed  at  the 
will  of  the  legislature,  expressed  in  general 
laws  applying  to  all  the  land  within  the 
jurisdiction. 

The  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  these 
propositions  is  : — 

v.  That  no  man  now  has  any  property    in 
land   which  cannot   rightfully   be   qualified   or 
destroyed   without   compensation     by    general 
laws  designed  to  regulate  the  use  of  land. 
The    argu-       128   The  bases  or  arguments  on  whicJi  these 
^s^rotcst  propositions  are  founded. 

ded.S  are  f°Un"  '•  Land  is  literally  indispensable  to  life.  The 
right  of  life  therefore  involves  a  right  to  land, 
title  to  which  vests  at  birth,  and  by  the  fact  of 
birth,  in  every  human  being.  Such  right  as 
against  all  other  human  beings,  like  the  right 
to  life,  has  no  limit  except  such  as  the  equal 
correlative  rights  of  others  impose. 

ii.  Land  varies  in  fertility,  salubrity,  acces- 
sibility, and  generally  in  desirableness.  Laws 
therefore  securing  to  some  men  as  absolute 
property  the  best  parcels  of  land  are  unjust 
inasmuch  as  the  natural  right  of  other  men 
to  the  best  parcels  is  as  good  as  that  of  the 
favoured  ones. 

iii.  The  land  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
government  is  limited  in  amount,  and  is  there- 
fore capable  of  full  appropriation  by  some  to  the 
exclusion  of  others.  Some  men  are  then  com- 
pelled to  pay  rent  to  others  ;  that  is,  they  must 
surrender  some  portion  of  their  property.  The 
natural  right  of  these  to  what  they  have  acquired 
by  the  exercise  of  the  powers  and  faculties  with 
which  nature  has  endowed  them  is  in  so  far 


AXIOMS   AND   ASSUMPTIONS.  79 

impaired  (since  those  others  who  receive  rent 
are  not  put  by  the  laws  in  the  same  pre- 
dicament). 

iv.  The  conclusion  is  : — 

That  absolute  property  in  land  as  a  legal 
institution  is  inconsistent  with  and  destructive 
of  the  natural  right  to  life,  the  natural  right 
to  liberty,  the  natural  right  to  the  fruit  of 
one's  exertions,  the  natural  right  to  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness. 

Hence  the  land  is  not  the  rightful  subject  of 
absolute  property,  but  its  use  and  occupancy 
must  be  regulated  by  law.  A  material  thing  is 
not  rightfully  the  subject  of  absolute  property, 
if  the  appropriation  of  it  by  the  exertion  of 
one  man's  natural  powers  interferes  with  the 
equal  right  of  other  men  to  exert  their  natural 
powers. 

129  An     explanation     of     the    grounds     on       Explanation 
which  it  is  asserted,  paragraph  128,  (i.),  that :—      human C  being 

Every  human  being  has,  as  against  others,  a  j^da  right  to 
natural  right  to  land,  and  that  there  is  no  limit 
to  such   right  except  that  prescribed  by  the  equal 
rights  of  other  human  beings. 

Since  all  men  have  the"  same  equal  right  to 
life,  it  follows  that  they  must  all  have  the  same 
equal  right  to  land.  To  deny  the  equal  right  to 
the  elements  necessary  to  the  maintaining  of  life 
is  to  deny  the  equal  right  to  life.  As  no  law 
or  custom  or  agreement  can  justify  the  denial  of 
the  equal  right  to  life,  so  no  law  or  custom  or 
agreement  can  justify  the  denial  of  the  equal 
right  to  land.  It  therefore  follows  from  the 
very  fact  of  their  existence,  that  the  right  of 
each  one  to  an  equal  share  in  the  land  is  equal 


SO        THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

and  inalienable  ;  that  is  to  say,  that  the  use  and 
benefit  of  the  land  belong  rightfully  to  the  whole 
people  :  to  each  one  as  much  as  to  the  other ; 
to  no  one  more  than  to  the  other  ;  not  to  some 
individuals  to  the  exclusion  of  other  individuals  ; 
not  to  one  class  to  the  exclusion  of  other 
classes  ;  not  to  landlords,  not  to  tenants,  not  to 
cultivators,  but  to  the  whole  people. 

This  right  is  irrefutable  and  indefeasible.  It 
pertains  to  and  springs  from  the  fact  of  existence, 
the  right  to  live.  No  law,  no  covenant,  no  agree- 
ment can  bar  it.  One  generation  cannot  stipu- 
late away  the  rights  of  another  generation.  If 
the  whole  people  were  to  unite  in  bargaining 
away  their  right  in  the  land,  how  could  they 
justly  bargain  away  the  right  of  the  child  who 
the  next  moment  is  born  ?  No  one  can  bargain 
away  what  is  not  his ;  no  one  can  stipulate 
away  the  rights  of  another.  And  if  the  new- 
born infant  has  an  equal  right  to  life,  then  has 
it  an  equal  right  to  land.  Its  warrant,  which 
comes  direct  from  nature,  and  which  sets  aside 
all  human  laws  and  title  deeds,  is  the  fact  that 
it  is  born. 

See  Henry  George's  "  The  Land  Question," 
Chapter  V. 


CHAPTER  III. 


HOW   THE   RIGHTS    OF    THE    COMMUNITY   ARE 
INFRINGED   UPON   AT   PRESENT. 

130  HAVING  in  the  preceding  chapters,  as  a 
preliminary  preparation,  laid  down  the   funda- 
mental   principles   and    axioms   in  reference  to 
land,  which  form  the  true  and  sound  basis  for  a 
discussion,  we  propose   now  to  proceed  to  an 
examination  of  some  points  leading  up  to  the 
question  of  "  compensation  "  as  it  might  affect 
the  proposed  resumption  of  land  by  the  com- 
munity. 

131  The  rights  of  the  community  are  made 
up  of  the  rights  of  all  the  individuals  composing 
the  community.     The  rights  of  the  community 
will  be  fully  secured  when  every  individual  is  in 
a  position  to  enjoy  all  his  natural  rights,  summed 
up  in  brief,  in  the  right  to  himself,  and  subject 
only  to  the  equal  right  of  every  other  individual 
to  himself.     Now  we  have  seen  that  the  right  to 
life  involves  of  necessity  the  right  to  land.     But 
in  the  present  day  we  perceive  that  some  in- 
dividuals, to  the  practical  exclusion  of  all  others, 
claim   for    themselves   as    their   legal    right   an 
absolute   property   in   land.     Whence  has   this 
claim  arisen,  and  on  what  is  it  founded  ?     The 
answer  given  is  that  it  is  not  claimed  as  a  right 
from  constitutional  law,   the  theory  being  still 

6 


The  question 
now  to  be  en- 
tered upon. 


The  rights  of 
the  community 
to  the  land. 
Origin  of  the 
absolute  claims 
of  landowners. 
Pleas  urged  to 
shew  that  the 
State  has  in- 
directly sanc- 
tioned them. 


82        THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

admitted  that  the  State  is  ultimately  the  sole 
and  absolute  owner  of  all  the  land  within  its 
jurisdiction.  We  must  look,  then,  to  history  for 
an  explanation  of  its  origin,  and  we  find  that  in 
England  it  arose  as  a  consequence  of  the  Act 
of  1660  which  abolished  military  tenures,  and 
substituted  freehold  tenure  of  land.  By  repu- 
diating the  obligations  that  had  previously 
been  imposed  upon  the  holding  of  land,  with- 
out substituting  any  equivalent  obligations 
the  landowners  became,  ipso  facto,  absolute 
and  unrestricted  owners,  notwithstanding  the 
nominal  ownership  of  the  State.  Except  when 
land  has  been  taken  for  railroads  and  other 
public  purposes,  the  nominal  ownership  of  the 
State  has  never  since  that  date  really  and 
directly  interfered  with  or  restricted  the  absolute 
ownership  of  the  landlords,  and  so  by  lapse  of 
time  and  growth  of  custom  it  is  claimed  that  the 
State  has  in  a  measure  been  induced  practically 
to  give  indirect  sanction  to  the  absolute  owner- 
ship of  the  landlords,  as  against  itself  the 
nominal  and  rightful  owner.  In  the  next  place 
we  are  further  reminded  that  when  land  in  these 
exceptional  cases  has  been  taken  for  public 
purposes,  compensation  has  been  awarded  to 
the  landowner  for  the  bare  land  as  well  as 
for  the  improvements  necessarily  condemned 
thereon. 
The  pica  1Q%  On  these  two  grounds,  then,  viz.,  that 

arising    from         .   -  r  ,  ,    rv   ,       ,  1,1 

usage? and  the  arising  from  long-established  usage,  and  that 
plea  from  pre-  derived  from  precedent  in  case  of  railroads,  etc., 
an  endeavour  is  made  to  establish  a  valid  claim 
for  compensation  to  the  landowners,  in  case  the 
community  should  determine  by  any  method  to 
reassert  and  resume  its  undoubted  rightful 
ownership  of  the  soil. 


HOW   RIGHTS  OF  COMMUNITY   INFRINGED.     83 


133  Before  proceeding  farther  in  the  special 
enquiry   which   is   the   subject   of    the   present 
chapter,  it  will  be  well  to  pause  awhile  in  order 
to  ascertain  whether  it  be  true,  as  the  above- 
mentioned  grounds  might  seem  to  suggest,  that 
the  State  has  already,  by  its  action,  prejudiced 
this  whole  question  of  compensation  for  the  land 
in    favour   of  the  landowners.     If  it   be  so,  of 
course,  any  further  enquiry  on  our  part  would 
be  by  many  deemed  useless  :    the  matter  would 
be  considered  practically  at  an  end. 

134  Now    with    reference   to   the   argument 
from  long  usage,  we  can  observe  at  once  that  it 
might  have  been  more  likely  to  have  had  weight, 
if  at  all,  before  the  era  of  railroads  and  other 
public  improvements  had  set  in.     As  it  is  now, 
every  time  that  a  railroad  bill  has  been  brought 
before    the    Legislature    an   appeal    has    been 
virtually  made  to  the  State  to  exercise  its  right 
of  eminent  domain    in  order  to  procure  some 
benefit  for  the  public  good.     Thus,  if  the  argu- 
ment, from  long  usage,  might  formerly  have  had 
any  weight,  it  has  ceased  now,  in  these  days,  to 
have  any,  because    of  the   constant   reminders 
which  these  schemes  have  given  of  the  existence 
of  the  State's  right,  to  those  who  were  sufficiently 
alert  to  understand  the  true  significance  of  those 
appeals.     Some  persons  may  have  unthinkingly 
regarded  them  as  appeals  to  the  power  of  the 
State,  rendered   justifiable  because  of  the  ne- 
cessity, to  exercise  its  omnipotence  in  over-riding 
the  ordinary  law  ;    but  they  might  easily  have 
learnt,  by  a  careful  enquiry,  that  instead  of  that, 
they    were    appeals  only  for  the  exercise  of  a 
latent,  though  sometime  dormant,  legal  power, 
which   the    State   had  always    necessarily   pos- 
sessed as  the  representative  of  the  rights  of  the 

6* 


Deserving  of 
examination. 


The  argu- 
ment from  long 
usage  refuted. 


84 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  prece- 
dent in  the  case 
of  rail  roads 
sometimes  in- 
correctly repre- 
sented. T  h  e 
term  "land- 
owner"  a  mis- 
nomer. 


The     real 
circumstances 
of  such  a  case. 
The   limitation 


community,  and  which  in  former  ages  it  had 
exercised  much  more  directly  and  frequently 
than  it  has  done  in  the  last  two  centuries  in 
which  it  has  seemed  until  recently  to  be  some- 
what sinking  into  abeyance. 

135  Again,  in  reference  to  that  other  plea 
arising  from  precedent  in  the  case  of  railroads, 
it  must  be  pointed  out  that  the  exact  position  of 
the  State  in  these  transactions  has  been  much 
misunderstood  and  misinterpreted.  The  matter 
is  usually  somewhat  loosely  referred  to  as  if  it 
were  the  State  itself  that  had  given  compensa- 
tion to  landlords,  thereby  acknowledging  the 
latter  as  real  and  absolute  owners  ;  whereas,  in 
fact,  the  compensation  has  been  given  by  the 
corporations  to  whom  the  State  has  granted 
special  privileges  or  franchises  to  be  exercised 
in  behalf  of  the  public  welfare.  And  that  which 
the  landlords  have  surrendered  in  exchange  has 
not  been  really  their  rights  of  ownership  (for  in 
strictness  they  did  not  have  any),  but  only  their 
rights  of  possession  in  subordination  to  the  real 
ownership  of  the  State.  And  when  the  trans- 
action has  been  completed,  the  position  of  the 
State  as  absolute  owner  remains  undisturbed 
and  unchanged,  the  rights  of  possession  merely 
having  passed  into  new  hands.  The  fact  is,  the 
term  "  landowner,"  as  it  is  often  used  as  synony- 
mous with  "  landholder,"  is  clearly  a  misnomer, 
which  leads  many  into  confusion  of  thought. 
The  State  is  really  the  only  landowner  recog- 
nised by  the  law,  all  others  being  merely 
tenants  in  possession,  more  properly  styled 
"landholders." 

136  If,  then,  the  State  should  now  see  fit 
to  determine  the  rights  of  the  present  possessors, 
or  to  alter  the  conditions  on  which  it  would 


HOW    RIGHTS   OF   COMMUNITY   INFRINGED.     85 

permit  them  to  continue  in  possession,  the  case  of  the 
would  be  essentially  different  from  that  in  which  p^Ha 
two  parties  are  bargaining  together  for  the 
right  of  possession  of  a  particular  parcel  of 
land  under  a  third  party  as  absolute  owner. 
The  right  of  the  State  as  absolute  owner,  by 
means  of  a  general  law  applicable  to  all  its 
land,  to  resume  possession  to  itself,  or  to  con- 
tinue it  to  individuals  under  altered  conditions, 
can  in  no  degree  be  prejudiced  or  barred  by  the 
precedents  in  the  case  of  railroads  and  other 
public  improvements.  No  parliament  has  ever 
given  a  valid  guarantee  that  the  conditions  of 
possessorship  should  remain  unchanged.  It 
could  not  do  so  if  it  would,  because  it  could 
have  no  power  to  enforce  its  will  upon  sub- 
sequent parliaments  ;  and  it  would  scarcely 
venture  to  do  so  with  its  eyes  fully  open, 
even  if  it  could,  because  it  would  be  such  a 
manifest  usurpation  of  the  rights  of  succeed- 
ing parliaments  and  generations.  The  "omni- 
potence" of  any  single  parliament  is  strictly 
limited  to  the  period  of  its  own  existence.  The 
next  parliament  may  lawfully  nullify  or  undo  any 
part  or  the  whole  of  its  predecessor's  work. 

137   If  there  are  any  other    cases  in  which     Aspeciaiand 
compensation  has  been  awarded  to  landowners,  c*se  °  furnishes 
to  which  these  arguments  do  not  seem  to  fully  no    precedent 
apply,  it  would   still  be  pertinent  to  show  that  ^ nbearra Maw 
these  are  exceptional  cases,  in  which  the  rights  affecting  ail 
of    single    individuals   only  were   concerned,  in  j^-  atj|!{f£g 
which  case  there  might  be  reasons  to  render  it  to  a  precedent 
expedient  or  justifiable  to  allow  compensation,  J^Jj^t7of 
so  that  there  might  be  no  appearance  of  dis-  landowners. 
crimination  operating  against  one  only,  and  not 
against  all ;  but  such  cases  could  afford  no  basis 
on  which  to  found  a  precedent  when  the  State 


86        THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

by  a  general  law  affecting  all  land  should  apply 
the  same  principle  to  the  whole  community. 
And  further,  even  if  such  a  precedent  could  be 
shewn  to  have  been  made,  it  would  still  be  liable 
to  the  suspicion  that  it  owed  its  existence  to  the 
preponderating  influence  of  the  landowners  in 
previous  parliaments,  and  could  scarcely  be  held 
to  have  received  so  much  sanction  from  the 
whole  community,  as  might  be  implied  hereafter 
in  a  similar  case,  now  that  all  other  interests  in 
the  community  have  begun  to  demand  and 
receive  their  due  representation  and  weight  of 
influence  in  the  legislature. 
The  Pariia-  138  To  return  then  to  the  Parliament  of 

mem  of  1660   lfifio  ancj   jf-s   legislative  work,  we  instinctively 

condemned.  111  r  -i- 

see  that  the  change  from  military  tenures  to 
freehold  (which  had  become  expedient  for  various 
good  reasons)  might  have  been  made,  as  it 
was  right  that  it  should  be  made,  without 
superseding  every  obligation  on  the  part  of 
landlords  to  observe  the  strictly-limited  and 
well-defined  rights  of  possession  which  are  com- 
patible with  that  due  recognition  of  the  absolute 
ownership  of  the  State  which  is  necessary  for 
the  free  exercise  of  the  rights  of  every  other 
member  of  the  community.  Such  a  proper 
arrangement  had  been  previously  discussed  and 
almost  completed  by  the  Parliament  in  1610. 
It  seems  scarcely  possible,  therefore,  to  suppose 
that  such  a  mistake  was  made  unwittingly.  If 
so,  we  must  say  that  it  is  such  a  mistake  as  could 
only  have  been  possible  in  a  parliament  com- 
posed of  landlords  exclusively,  or  in  which  their 
influence  very  largely  predominated.  No  other 
parliament  could  have  been  so  easily  and  sus- 
piciously hood-winked.*  The  responsibility  for 
°  The  measure  was  passed  by  a  majority  of  two  votes  only. 


HOW   RIGHTS   OF   COMMUNITY  INFRINGED.    8/ 

this  most  culpable  failure  must,  therefore,  rest 
upon  the  Parliament  of  1660,  and  it  stands 
condemned  as  having  failed  to  perform  the 
primary  function  of  government  to  secure  to 
all  its  people  their  natural  rights.  It  did  in  fact 
make  and  enforce  a  law  which  caused  a  most 
serious  abridgement  and  denial  of  those  natural 
rights.  It  was  a  virtual  attempt  on  its  part  to 
stipulate  away  the  rights  of  that  and  every 
succeeding  generation.  It  was  an  act  of  usurpa- 
tion on  its  part,  which  cannot  be  too  severely 
reprobated.  And  every  parliament  that  has 
succeeded  it  deserves  some  share  in  its  con- 
demnation for  having  so  far  tacitly  acquiesced  in 
this  great  wrong.  For  it  is  manifest  to  every 
candid  judgment  that  the  imposition  of  the  land 
tax  in  1693  can  in  no  just  sense  be  regarded  as 
a  sufficient  equivalent  for  the  rights  thus  culpably 
bargained  away. 

139  It    is     scarcely    perhaps    necessary    to       Consequen 

i  j_u  M          j  ces  of  'its  evil 

enlarge  much  on  the  enormous  evil  and  vicious  actjon.  • 
consequences  which  are  distinctly  traceable  to 
this  gigantic  wrong.  They  lie  patent  now  on 
every  hand,  the  source  of  grief  to  every  candid 
observer.  The  denial  of  the  right  to  land,  which 
is  evidenced  by  the  widespread  inability  to  obtain 
a  sufficiency  of  remunerative  employment,  in- 
volves ultimately  the  denial  of  the  right  to  life  ; 
and  this  ultimate  result  has  been  and  is  now 
to-day  staved  off  temporarily  only,  by  very 
many  members  of  the  community,  with  the 
certainty  staring  them  in  the  face  that  they  must 
sooner  or  later  prematurely  succumb.  Mean- 
while, stern  necessity  compels  them  to  purchase 
some  small  right  of  access  to  land,  or,  what  is 
equivalent,  to  obtain  permission  to  labour  from 
some  employer,  with  the  sacrifice  of  their  right 


88        THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

to  very  large  proportions  of  the  fruits  of  the 
labour,  which  they  must  perform  after  they  have 
thus  gained  permission  to  labour.  But  even  this 
is  not  the  worst ;  for  in  the  case  of  a  daily  in- 
creasing number  of  others,  who  fail  to  obtain 
this  necessary  permission  to  labour,  there  re- 
mains no  other  escape  from  that  ultimate  result 
of  the  denial  of  the  right  to  life  than  can  be 
obtained  by  an  appeal  to  charity,  or  a  resort  to 
shame  and  crime. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

HOW   MAY  THE    RIGHTS   OF    THE    COMMUNITY 
BE   RE-ASSERTED   AND   SECURED? 

140  WE  have  already  in  Book  I.,  Chapter  V., 
Section  iii.,  given  the  answer  to  this  question  in 
brief.     The  problem  to  be  solved  may  be   re- 
stated thus : — 

Recognizing  the  truth  and  justice  of  the  theory 
that  the  land  belongs  to  the  whole  community, 
and  that  every  member  of  it  has  an  equal  right 
to  share  in  its  usufruct,  and  that  it  is  practically 
impossible  and  unadvisable  for  every  one  to 
occupy  what  might  be  considered  his  own  equal 
portion  of  the  land,  how  then  may  the  land  be 
permitted  to  be  occupied  and  cultivated  by  some 
only  to  the  exclusion  of  others,  without  in- 
fringing the  equal  rights  of  those  others? 

141  The  answer  to  this,  which  seems  to  be 
simplest  and  best,  is  : — By  requiring  those  who 
are  permitted  to  occupy  or  cultivate  the  land  to 
pay  to  the  community  a  full  equivalent  for  the 
special  privileges  which  they  thus  enjoy ;  that  is, 
in   effect,  requiring  landholders  to  pay  rent  to 
the  community  for  the  possession  of  their  land. 

142  This,    then,   gives     us    the   answer    we 
seek,  viz. :  The  rights  of  the  community  may  be 
reasserted  and  secured  through  the  appropria- 


Statement  of 
the  problem 
with  regard  to 
land. 


The    answer 
to  the  problem. 


The  answer 
to  the  question 
of  Chapter  IV. 


90        THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

tion  of  ground  rents  by  taxation,  and  applying 
the  proceeds  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  com- 
munity. 

Why  the  ^4.3  jn  ^his  way  every  individual  in  the 
must  appropri-  community  would  be  in  effect  a  landowner,  and 
ate  the/*//  WOuld  receive  an  equal  share  in  the  usufruct  of 
from  the  land-  the  land.  The  amount  which  each  landholder 
holders.  should  be  called  on  to  pay  would  be  the  full 

rental  value  of  the  land  which  he  occupied,  so 
that  no  one  by  underletting  would  be  able  to 
obtain  more  as  rental  from  the  sub-tenant  than 
the  landlord  would  be  required  to  pay  over  to 
the  community  ;  and  likewise,  no  one,  in  trans- 
ferring his  occupation  of  the  land  to  another, 
could  obtain  any  payment  as  selling  value  for 
the  bare  land,  because  the  selling  value  of  all 
land  (of  course  not  including  improvements) 
would  be,  in  effect,  wholly  destroyed.  No  one 
would  give  anything  as  purchase-money  for  land 
from  which  he  was  not  to  be  permitted  to  obtain 
any  rental  that  he  could  appropriate  to  himself. 
There  would,  in  fact,  be  no  advantage  to  anyone 
in  holding  land,  except  for  its  actual  use  in  cul- 
tivation, or  in  sites  for  houses,  buildings,  etc.,  the 
whole  of  its  rental  value  being  taken  by  the 
community,  and  its  selling  value  being  totally 
done  away  with.  It  is  obvious  that  if  the  com- 
munity should  take  a  part  only,  and  not  the 
whole  of  the  rental  value,  then  the  landlord 
would  retain  for  himself  the  remaining  portion 
of  the  rent,  and  as  long  as  that  was  permitted  to 
continue,  the  land  would  also  continue  to  have 
some  selling  value,  though  diminished  in  amount 
in  proportion. 

probfemof'the       *^   Here>    then,    the    question     arises,  how 

tax-assessor.       shall  the  tax  assessor  know  ivhat  is  t lie  full  rental 

value   of  any  piece   of  land?     This   could    be 


HOW   MAY   THE   RIGHTS   BE   SECURED  ?   pi 

approximately  ascertained,  for  any  individual 
piece  of  land,  by  a  comparison  with  the  rental 
value  of  all  other  land  in  its  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood, and  similarly  situated.  This  would, 
in  practice,  become  a  very  simple  matter,  as  it 
would  be  the  interest  of  every  landowner  to  see 
that  he  was  fairly  assessed,  in  comparison  with 
his  neighbours.  But  suppose  the  whole  of  a  con- 
siderable district,  under  the  same  assessor,  should 
be  under -assessed,  so  that  no  discrepancy  or 
unfairness  is  revealed  by  a  comparison  of  the 
assessments  of  its  landowners  one  with  another, 
and  we  will  suppose,  also,  that  by  a  tacit  con- 
spiracy on  the  part  of  the  landowners,  the 
assessor  is  prevented  from  perceiving  and  de- 
monstrating the  fact  that  they  are  being  per- 
mitted to  appropriate  and  retain  for  themselves 
some  portion  of  the  rental  value  due  to  the  com- 
munity. How,  in  that  case,  can  an  honest 
assessor,  or  an  aggrieved  member  of  the 
community,  proceed  to  uncover  the  wrong,  and 
obtain  the  remedy  ? 

145  An  error,  in  this  case,  would  be 
detected  and  exposed  by  observing  the  selling 
price  of  any  piece  of  land  with  its  improvements 
anywhere  within  the  assessor's  district,  either 
when  sold  by  private  contract,  or  when  it 
chanced  to  be  put  up  for  sale  by  public  auction. 
The  values  of  houses,  stables,  barns,  fences, 
walls,  warehouses,  etc.,  in  similar  situations  do 
not  vary  much  all  over  the  country,  and  can  be 
precisely  ascertained  in  any  individual  instance 
by  learning  or  estimating  the  exact  cost  of  con- 
struction, as  valuers  now  are  accustomed  to  do. 
If,  then,  it  is  found  that  on  selling  an  improved 
piece  of  land  by  auction,  the  price  obtained  is  in 
excess  of  the  value  of  the  mere  improvements,  it 


92         THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

is  clear  that  the  excess  is  due  to  the  selling  value 
of  the  bare  land,  and  is  an  exact  measure  of  that 
selling  value.  The  assessor,  noting  and  esti- 
mating the  amount  of  this  excess,  can,  by  a 
simple  calculation,  determine  by  how  much  the 
rental  value  paid  to  the  community  falls  short  of 
that  which  is  the  full  and  true  rental  value. 

How  to  rec-  146  For  example,  suppose  a  parcel  of 
land,  when  thus  sold,  is  found  to  have  a 
selling  value  of  ^"1,000,  and  the  current  rate  of 
interest  being,  say,  5  per  cent.,  it  shews  that  the 
investor  expects,  by  his  purchase,  to  realize  as 
much  as  £50  per  annum,  or  else  he  would  prefer 
to  invest  his  money  in  some  other  way.  The 
assessor,  privately  noting  this,  would  then  infer 
that  the  rental  value  of  the  land  had  been  pre- 
viously under-assessed  to  the  amount  of  ^50  per 
annum,  and,  if  the  results  of  his  observations  in 
a  number  of  similar  instances  shewed  him  that 
this  was  not  an  exceptional,  but  a  typical  case, 
he  would,  in  due  course,  make  the  correction 
accordingly,  and  the  selling  value  would  be  at 
once  destroyed  as  regards  the  future.  He  would, 
at  the  same  time,  raise  the  assessment  of  every 
other  parcel  of  land  in  his  district  in  the  same 
proportion. 

An  objection  147  It  will  be  objected  that  any  intending 
purchaser  foreseeing  this  action  on  the  part  of  the 
assessor,  would  be  careful  not  to  offer  any  sum 
which  could  be  reckoned  as  partly  a  price  for 
the  selling  value  of  land,  and  that  therefore  the 
test  would  fail  in  application.  As,  however, 
transfers  of  land,  either  by  public  or  private  sale, 
would  be  constantly  going  on,  if  purchasers  were 
in  their  own  minds  convinced  that  the  land 
really  had  a  selling  value,  they  would  not  be 
deterred,  when  competing  with  each  other,  from 


HOW   MAY   THE    RIGHTS   BE   SECURED?   93 

offering  the  full  value  according  to  the  then 
existing  assessment,  and  running  the  risk,  along 
with  every  other  landowner  in  the  same  district, 
of  having  the  assessment  raised  all  round,  up  to 
the  true  rental  value. 

148  If     in     any     district     the     assessment 
should  be  placed  higher  than    the   true   rental 
value,  so  as  to  be,  in   fact,  in  part  a  tax  upon 
improvements    in    addition,    this    error    would 
reveal    itself  in    causing   purchasers  to  be  un- 
willing to  give  full  market  value  for  the  im- 
provements   upon    the   land,   and   the   assessor 
would  then  be  appealed  to  to  reduce  the  assess- 
ment all  round. 

We  should  thus  have  a  self-adjusting  system 
which  would  always  enable  all  the  parties  con- 
cerned to  satisfy  themselves  with  sufficient 
accuracy  as  to  the  amount  of  the  true  rental 
value. 

149  There   is  yet  another  point   to  be    here  ,  Why    th« 

i        <-  •          -,  i  ,,1      ,   ,.1         r   11    landlord   could 

noticed.  Supposing  it  to  be  true  that  the  full  not  shift  the  tax 
rental  value  of  the  land  can  be  accurately  and  on  to  the  tenant, 
justly  estimated  and  collected  from  the  land- 
lord-, what  is  to  hinder  the  landlord  from  reim- 
bursing himself  by  imposing  upon  his  tenants 
as  additional  rent  for  his  improvements  a  part  or 
even  the  full  amount  of  the  rental  value  taken 
from  him  by  the  community  ?  The  answer  is, 
that  the  land  value  tax  is  a  direct  tax,  falling  on 
the  landlords,  and  which  could  not  in  any  way 
be  shifted  by  them  on  to  their  tenants.  For,  in 
the  first  place,  if  it  were  possible  for  landlords  to 
impose  any  increased  rental,  it  is  quite  certain 
they  would  do  so  now.  They  are  not  withheld 
by  any  philanthropic  scruples  from  charging  the 
utmost  they  can  obtain,  and  if  a  land  value  tax 
were  imposed  on  them,  it  would  not  give  them 


94        THE   LAND   AND  THE   COMMUNITY. 

any  additional  power  to  do  so.  In  the  next 
place,  observe  that  land  differs  from  houses  and 
other  products  of  labour,  in  that  the  supply  of 
it  is  constant  ;  it  can  neither  be  diminished  nor 
increared.  If  a  tax  be  put  on  houses,  the  build- 
ing of  houses  is  for  a  time  discouraged  and 
diminished  in  consequence,  until  the  rent  of 
houses  has  increased  sufficiently  to  enable  the 
houseowner  to  obtain  the  same  return  on  his 
outlay  as  before.  But  if  a  tax  be  put  on  the 
value  of  land,  the  supply  of  land  cannot  be 
affected  thereby,  and  therefore  no  scarcity  arises 
to  enable  the  landlord  to  obtain  an  increase  of 
rent.  Thus  he  cannot  shift  the  tax  on  to  the 
tenant,  but  the  burden  remains  on  his  own 
shoulders,  where  it  properly  belongs. 

fu^wortdn^of         15°  We     haVG      tllUS      demonstrated    tne    suc- 

the  plan    dc-  cessful    working    of    the  plan  proposed,  if  put 
monstrated.        jnto  actual  practice,  so  far  as  the  collection  of 

the   rental   value   from   the    landlords    by    the 

community  is  concerned. 


CHAPTER  V. 


WORDS   AND   DEFINITIONS.      LANDOWNER, 
LAND-HOLDER,   IMPROVEMENT-OWNER. 


The  import- 


151  WE  have  now  reached  a  stage  in  our 
enquiry  at  which  it  becomes  expedient  before 
proceeding  further,  to  lay  down  some  more  ship  and  mere 
precise  definitions  of  the  terms  and  phrases  P°ssesslon- 
which  we  have  so  far  used  (we  trust  without 
ambiguity  or  confusion  of  thought  in  our  own 
or  the  reader's  mind),  in  their  ordinary  and 
common  acceptation.  We  have  already  pointed 
out  one  very  prevalent  misnomer,  which  has 
been  a  most  fertile  source  of  blundering  mis- 
conception to  many  unthinking  minds. 
Because  a  man  who  is  only  a  landholder  is 
often  permitted  without  correction  to  style 
himself  a  landowner,  we  hear  him  asking,  and 
many  others  repeating  the  question  on  his 
behalf,  Is  not  the  land  my  land  ?  Do  not  t 
own  it  ?  And  may  I  not  do  what  I  will  with 
mine  own  ?  and  so  on.  To  all  of  which  queries,  al- 
though somewhat  staggering  at  first,  the  obviously 
true  and  simple  answer  is,  "  No,  you  cannot  be 
allowed  to  do  as  you  please  with  the  land,  be- 
cause the  land  is  not  yours,  notwithstanding  all 
that  your  title  deeds  may  say.  They  do  but  give 
you,  even  according  to  the  law  as  it  stands  at 


96 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  earth  is 
the  Lord's  and 
not  man's. 


.  The  unvary- 

mg     testimony 

of  the  church 
to  the  truth. 


present,  the  possession  of  the  land,  not  the 
ownership  of  it.  You  are,  even  now  in  the  eye 
of  the  law,  not  a  landowner,  but  only  a  land- 
holder, a  tenant."  And  the  difference  between 
the  rights  of  possession  merely,  and  the  right  of 
ownership  is  very  considerable,  as  we  shall 
further  presently  see. 

152  Very  much  confusion  of  ideas,  bringing 
with  it  also  very  great  and  practical  evils,  has 
resulted  from  forgetting,  or  overlooking,  or 
ignoring  as  irrelevant,  in  the  discussions  of  legal 
and  social  and  economic  questions,  some  funda- 
mental truths  which  religion  has  been  constantly 
teaching  and  continually  iterating  to  mankind 
in  every  age.  No  one  ought  to  need  to  be  told 
again  now  that  the  earth  was  not  made  by  man, 
but  created  by  God,  whose  own  oft-repeated 
declaration  is,  "  Heaven  is  my  throne,  the  earth  is 
my  footstool.  Hatli  not  my  hand  made  all  these 
things  ?  "  ;  and  again  who  bids  His  prophet 
proclaim  aloud  with  a  trumpet  voice  in  the  ears 
of  all  mankind,  the  echo  of  which  continues 
still  to  reverberate  through  every  age,  "  The  earth 
is  tJie  Lord's  and  the  fulness  thereof" 

^53   These,  and  very  many   similar  declara- 

,  .  *  ,  J  ,  J  , 

tions,  we  must  observe,  have  never  been,  nor  can 
ever  be,  recalled  by  God,  nor  annulled  by  man. 
They  must  remain  to  the  world's  end  the  funda- 
mental bases  of  all  righteous  government,  and 


*  With  reference  to  the  arguments  used  in  this  chapter 
the  reader  may  be  referred  to  the  following  passages  of 
Scripture : — 

Psalm  24,  ver.  1-2,  quoted  also  in  I.  Cor.  10,  26-28  ; 
Ps.  50,  10-12  ;  Ps.  89,  11-12  ;  Ps.  115,  15-18  ;  Isaiah  66, 
1-2,  quoted  likewise  in  Acts  7,  49-50;  Lev.  25,  23-24  ; 
Deut.  26,  9-11,  and  ver.  15  ;  I.  Kings  8,  36  :  Ezekiel  n, 
14-17. 


WORDS   AND   DEFINITIONS.  9/ 

of  all  wise  and  just  legislation  in  regard  to  land. 
God  is  the  only  owner  of  the  land,  and  His  right 
is  in  virtue  of  the  same  fact  as  that  by  which  He 
claims  to  own  even  man  himself.  The  earth 
and  man  are  both  equally  His,  because  He 
created  them  ;  and  the  claims  of  the  creature  to 
the  earth  may  not  rival,  or  attempt  to  supersede, 
that  of  the  Creator  of  both.  They  are  each 
the  work  of  His  own  hands  alone.  Of  the  one 
we  chant  daily  in  the  Church  Service  : — 

"  The  Lord  is  a  great  God,  and  a  great 
King  above  all  gods.  In  His  hands  are  all  the 
corners  of  the  earth,  and  the  strength  of  the 
hills  is  His  also.  The  sea  is  His,  and  He 
made  it,  and  His  hands  prepared  the  dry 
land." 

And  to  the  other,  we  joyously  call : — 

"  O,  come,  let  us  worship  and  fall  down  and 
kneel  before  the  LorJ  our  Maker.  For  He  is 
the  Lord  our  God,  and  we  are  the  people  of 
His  pasture,  and  the  sheep  of  His  hand." 

154  Are  not  all  these  declarations  the  most 
obvious  and  familiar  truths  ?  Who  dares  venture 
indeed    to   deny   them  ?     Have  they  not  stood 
the  test  of  ages,  and  can  any  endeavours  on  the 
part   of  men  undermine  their  eternal  truth,  or 
render   them   irrelevant  to  the  affairs  of  man- 
kind ?  Is  it  not  manifest  that  to  ignore  them  must 
lead  us  into  fundamental  and  inextricable  errors, 
and   that  even  any   attempt  to  do  so  must  be 
condemned  as  the  result  of  blindness  or  madness 
or    blasphemous   daring    which  could   but  end 
in  danger  and  destruction  to  the  happiness  and 
welfare  of  mankind  both  here  and  hereafter  ? 

155  What  then  is  man's  right   in  the  land,  - 
whence  does  he  derive  it,  and  how  is  it  limited  ?  n0t    be  based 


98 


THE   LAND   AXD   THE   COMMUNITY. 


on  his  creation 
of  any  part  of 
its  material. 


Nor  of  any 
portion  of  its 
energy. 


But  is  the 
gift  of  the 
Creator's 
bounty. 


Man  can  of  himself  claim  no  right  in  the  land, 
or  indeed  in  anything  else,  by  virtue  of  his 
creation  of  it.  He  can  neither  add  to  nor 
diminish  from  the  elements  of  the  earth  by  the 
amount  of  an  infinitesimal  atom.  His  power  is 
strictly  limited  to  that  of  altering  in  shape  or  form, 
grouping  into  new  combinations,  removing  into 
different  localities,  interchanging  its  state,  solid, 
liquid  or  gaseous,  controlling  for  a  short  time 
only,  and  to  a  very  limited  degree,  the  operation 
of  those  natural  forces  which  are  perpetually 
tending  to  restore  the  original  elements  which 
man  has  moulded  by  his  efforts  into  forms 
suited  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  desires  back 
again  into  the  same  conditions  and  circum- 
stances in  which  he  found  them. 

156  Even  the  energy  which  man  expends  in 
effecting  these  temporary  changes  in  the  ele- 
ments of  the  earth  to  fit  them  for  his  use  and 
enjoyment,  is  subject  to  the  same  impassable 
and  unyielding  limit  of  the  Creator's  law,  placing 
it  beyond  and  above  man's  power  to  increase 
oe  diminish  by  a  single  unit  of  energy  the  total 
of  those  inexhaustible  stores  in  the  reservoirs 
of  natural  forces,  which  the  bounty  of  the 
Creator  has  created  and  provided  for  man's  use 
from  age  to  age,  but  of  which  man  could  never 
have  acquired  the  power  either  to  create  or 
destroy  the  least  inconceivable  fraction. 

Truly,  the  music  of  the  spheres  rolls  on  in  its 
wondrous  harmonies  but  little  affected  by  even 
the  greatest  of  man's  comparatively  puny 
efforts.  "One  generation  passeth  away,  and 
another  generation  cometh :  but  the  earth 
abideth  for  ever."  (Eccles.  I.  iv.) 

157  Man's  title  to  land  is  read  in  the  same 
book  which  tells  of  the  supreme  and  absolute 


WORDS   AND   DEFINITIONS.  99 

ownership  and  sovereignty  of  the  Creator  of  the 
land.  "  Ye  are  the  blessed  of  the  Lord  who 
made  heaven  and  earth.  The  heaven,  even 
the  heavens  are  the  Lord's,  but  the  eartk  Jiath 
He  given  to  the  CHILDREN  of  men"  Here  is  the 
parchment  of  man's  title-deed  to  land.  He 
receives  it  by  direct  gift  from  God,  not  by  in- 
heritance from  man.  No  claim  of  human 
ancestry  can  either  mend  or  mar  this  title.  It 
is  both  indefeasible  and  inalienable,  and  indes- 
tructible. Man  owes  it  not  to  the  labours  and 
industry  of  his  predecessors :  to  God  alone 
should  he  render  his  thanks  for  it.  It  is  His 
bounty  that  has  covered  the  earth  with  all  that 
renders  it  suitable  for  man's  habitation ;  the 
wild  grass  of  the  prairie,  the  trees  in  the  forest, 
the  herbs  and  flowers  and  shrubs  in  the  garden, 
the  corn  and  wheat  in  the  fields,  the  pasturage 
in  the  meadows,  the  treasures  in  the  bowels  of 
the  earth,  the  birds  in  the  air,  the  fishes  in  the 
waters,  the  animals  that  roam  over  the  land.  It 
is  He  that  sendeth  the  former  and  the  latter 
rain,  and  that  causeth  His  sun  to  shine  by  day, 
both  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust,  and  the  moon 
and  the  stars  by  night,  to  declare  His  glory  and 
handiwork.  For  all  these  the  Lord  be  praised  ; 
not  our  ancestors. 

158  How  far  then  does  man's  right  to  land      HOW 
extend,  and  what  is  its  limit?     It  extends  to  the  "hT 
usufruct  of  the  land  (the  temporary  use  of  it,  limit. 
without    power   of    alienation)  and  no  further. 
It  cannot  infringe  upon  the  absolute  ownership 
of  the  Creator.     Man  can  have  the  temporary 
use  of  the  land,  but  cannot  really  own  it,  and 
therefore   cannot    alienate  it   to   another.     For 
observe  God's  gift  of  the  earth  is  to  the  "  CHIL- 
DREN of  Men"  and  this  gift  is  a  continuous  act. 

7* 


ICO      THE   LAND   AN'D   THE   COMMUNITY. 

He  gives  to  every  present  generation  in  turn 
no  more  than  the  usufruct,  and  to  every  in- 
dividual of  that  generation  this  right  to  the 
use  of  the  earth  is  God's  gift  to  it  from  that 
instant  when  He  sends  it  forth  into  the  world 
bringing  with  it  eyes,  and  hands,  and  limbs, 
as  evidence  that  it  is  fitted  and  intended  to 
exercise  that  right ;  and  its  right  terminates 
or  lapses  likewise  on  that  instant  when  death 
summons  the  soul  to  return  to  the  God  who 
gave  it.  There  is  nothing,  therefore,  of  land 
which  one  generation  can  rightly  undertake  to 
control  and  regulate  for  another,  and  there  is  no 
inherent  right  in  any  man  to  bequeath  or  devise 
the  land  either  to  his  children  or  to  any  one  else, 
since  his  own  right  is  merely  that  of  usufruct, 
which  does  not  survive  him. 

The  Creator's  159  The  Creator's  feudal  system  is  such  that 
the  Lord  gives  to  every  one  of  His  subjects  as 
his  inheritance  and  birthright  without  dis- 
tinction of  rich  or  poor,  high  or  low,  great  or 
small,  the  right  to  an  equal  share  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  His  Sovereign  domain  (for  did  not  the 
Sacred  Preacher  proclaim  that  "  the  profit  of 
the  earth  is  for  all."  Eccles.  5,  9) ;  and  the 
system  under  His  perfect  management  works 
automatically.  Each  individual  receives  from 
the  Lord  to  whom  he  owes  his  allegiance,  at  the 
moment  of  his  birth,  his  "  estate-for-life,"  which 
instantly  "  escheats "  once  more  into  the  pos- 
session of  the  Grantor  on  the  demise  of  His  sub- 
ject. There  is  no  question  of  succession  by 
primogeniture  or  gavelkind  arising  here.  The 
Sovereign  Grantor  with  His  own  hand  bestows 
His  estate  independently  and  individually  on 
each  successive  occupant  and  sharer  of  it,  and  to 
Him  alone  is  any  subject  indebted  for  it. 


WORDS   AND   DEFINITIONS.  IOI 

160  We  shall  therefore  be  wise,  if  indeed  we      NO  real  class 

...  ,.  ,.  ...  r  i     i  •,  of  landowners, 

must  still  continue  through  force  ol  habit  to  use  but  one  Land- 
inaccurate  and  misleading  terms,  to  occasionally  owner,  the 

i  i  r  i_  •     j-  Creator. 

guard  ourselves  from  error  by  reminding  our- 
selves of  these  afore-mentioned  fundamental 
truths.  There  can  really  be  no  such  persons  as 
"  landowners,"  there  being  but  one  real  land- 
owner, God  Himself.  Man's  right  is  merely 
one  of  possession,  not  of  ownership. 

161  And  when  we  go  on  to  say  that  the  land     ,^°'[fal1cilass 

,  i        r-  i  .  _   of  landholders, 

belongs  to  the  State,  as  the  representative  of  but  one  Land- 
the  whole  community  in  its  corporate  capacity,  holder,  the 
we  mean  that  the  usufruct  of  the  land  belongs 
to  the  whole  community  as  a  corporation 
having  continuous  life  from  generation  to 
generation,  and  each  generation  derives  its 
right,  not  by  gift  or  inheritance  from  a  previous 
generation,  but  independently  from  the  Creator, 
simply  by  virtue  of  its  being  the  present  existing 
generation,  and  by  the  cumulation  of  the  God- 
given  right  of  each  of  its  individual  members 
from  the  day  of  its  birth  to  the  day  of  its  death. 
No  right  of  control  of  any  generation  extends 
beyond  its  own  lifetime,  and  therefore  it  cannot 
transmit  any  such  right,  even  if  it  were  at  all 
necessary  or  desirable  that  it  should  do  so. 
Those  who  are  permitted  by  the  laws  which  the 
State  sanctions  or  lays  down  on  behalf  of  any 
existing  generation  to  enjoy  the  usufruct  of  the 
land  are  then  wrongly  termed  landowners,  but 
less  inaccurately  called  landholders.  Strictly 
they  are  holders  of  the  right  to  the  usufruct  of 
the  land.  That  is  all  that  they  can  possess, 
because  it  is  all  that  the  existing  generation 
possesses,  and  therefore  all  that  it  can  give  to 
anyone. 


102      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


Instead  cf       jgg     Surely,  however,  it  cannot  be   necessary 

the    terms,.  .         /,  ',  .  .     ,  .  , 

"landowners"  that  we  should  be  compelled  to  continue  always 
"landholders"  the  use  of  this  misleading  phraseology.  Why 
pUr  o  ve  m  e'nt"  should  not  the  term  "  landowner"  be  blotted  out 
pwners."  from  the  dictionary,  except  it  be  written  always 

with  a  capital  "  L  "  and  used  as  a  synonym  for 
the  Creator  only.  And  why  should  not  the  term 
"  landholder  "  cease  likewise  to  be  used  as  a 
name  for  an  individual,  because  the  State,  or  the 
Community  in  its  corporate  capacity,  having  a 
perpetual  life  through  all  generations  is  really 
the  only  Landholder  —  with  a  capital  "  L"  also? 
We  might  then  find  a  new  designation  for  the 
individual  whom  the  community  permits  to 
occupy  the  land  and  put  his  improvements 
thereon.  Why  should  we  not  designate  him 
without  reference  to  the  land  at  all,  for  it  is 
really  scarcely  any  concern  of  his?  Why  not 
call  him  the  Improvements-owner^  for  that  is  in 
truth  what  he  really  is.* 

'  i  The  per  verted       163  How  much  that  would  instantly  effect  to- 

lawyersy<exer-  wards  clearing  up  our  ideas,  and  simplifying  and 

cised  in  beguil-  unravelling  the  knotty  points  of  this  apparently 

cr?-  inextricable  land  question  !  Why  should  the  law- 

0  The  term  "  Improvements  "  when  used  in  reference 
to  agricultural  land  would  include  drainage,  manuring, 
fencing,  hedging  and  ditching,  clearing  of  stones,  brush- 
wocd  or  useless  timber,  &c.,  also  the  planting  of 
gardens,  and  orchards,  and  the  rearing  and  culture  of 
trees,  woods,  £c.  It  would  also  include  the  erection  of 
houses,  cottages,  outhouses,  barns,  and  other  farm  build- 
ings ;  and  also  stables,  cattleshcds,  sheep  pens,  pig- 
cotes,  £c. 

In  reference  to  town  sites,  it  would  include  the 
erection  of  houses,  shops,  factories,  warehouses,  £c., 
together  with,  in  some  cases,  convenient  means  of 
access  by  roads,  streets,  and  paths,  and  arrangements 
for  the  supply  of  gas,  water,  and  similar  things. 


WORDS   AND   DEFINITIONS.  IO3 

yers  seem  to  take  such  delight  in  befogging  a 
really  very  simple  matter?  The  success  of  the 
perverted  ingenuity  which  they  have  displayed  in 
rendering  our  land  laws  utterly  beyond  the  com- 
prehension of  the  layman's  untutored  mind  may 
be  very  gratifying  as  a  testimony  to  their  skill 
and  cleverness  ;  but  really  it  might  be  used  to 
better  purpose.  They  have  succeeded  in  flat- 
tering the  vanity  of  landlords  now  for  so  many 
generations  by  making  them  believe  they  owned 
the  land  of  which  they  are  only  tenants,  that  no 
one  can  now  venture  to  call  them  by  a  truthful 
name,  or  to  tell  them  they  are  mistaken  as  to 
the  validity  of  their  lofty  claims  without  being 
regarded  as  one  who  had  insulted  them  and  was 
seeking  to  do  them  an  irreparable  injury. 

Lawyers,  with  the  knowledge  of  the  world, 
and  of  the  foibles  of  mankind  with  which  they 
are  usually  credited,  ought  to  have  known  the 
particular  weakness  of  their  clients,  the  land- 
lords, in  being  ready  and  facile  victims  of  their 
wiles,  and  therefore  they  ought  to  be  ashamed 
that  they  did  not  refrain  from  their  deceptive 
flatteries.  For  a  landlord  is  like  the  man  of 
whom  everybody  has  heard,  who  had  the  con- 
venient deaf  ear  of  which  he  could  make  such 
skilful  use.  The  lawyers  have  always  been  able 
to  gain  ready  access  to  the  sound  ear,  for  they 
have  alwavs  spoken  to  him  words  that  were 
palatable,  though  not  always  true ;  but  now 
when  one  approaches  to  tell  him  that  which  is 
and  always  has  been  true,  but  somewhat  unpal- 
atable to  his  perverted  conscience,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  foretell  how  many  generations  must 
elapse,  if  the  community  be  content  to  wait  so 
long,  before  his  words  can  effect  an  entrance 
into  that  apparently  impenetrable  mind. 


104      TIIE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 
And  also  m       154    gut  fae  evjj  wor]c  of  the  law\'ers  does 

misleading  the  ,  ,  1-11  1-11^1 

State.  not  end  even  there.  They  have  even  beguiled  the 

State  itself  in  a  like  manner.  They  have  taught 
the  State  in  one  generation  that  it  had  rolled 
up  into  itself  all  the  rights  of  its  own  and  every 
succeeding  generation  as  well,  and  have  con- 
jured it  to  believe  that,  instead  of  contenting  it- 
self with  saying  who  should  occupy  the  land 
during  its  lifetime,  and  leaving  the  next  genera- 
tion to  decree  in  like  manner  for  itself,  it  might 
justly  and  without  usurpation  bind  and  enforce 
its  decrees  upon  every  other  and  succeeding 
generation  whether  they  liked  them  or  not, 
and  in  utter  defiance  of  whether  they  were  just 
or  not.  Surely  the  lawyers  will  some  day  have 
much  to  answer  for ! 

testimony  °n0en  165  Let  me  commend  to  them,  in  reference  to 
the  land  ques-  this  subject,  a  few  words  from  a  work  which 
they  were  doubtless  familiar  enough  with  at  one 
period  of  their  career,  but  seem  to  have  since 
forgotten.  They  can  refresh  their  memories  by 
reading  it  again  in  Blackstone's  Commentaries 
on  the  English  Law. 

"  Pleased  as  they  are  with  the  possession  (of 
land),  we  seem  afraid  to  look  back  to  the  means 
by  which  it  was  acquired,  as  if  fearful  of  some 
defect  in  our  title  ....  We  think  it 
enough  that  our  title  is  derived  by  the  grant 
of  the  former  proprietor,  by  descent  from 
our  ancestors,  or  by  the  last  will  and  testa- 
ment of  the  dying  owner.  Not  caring  to  reflect 
that,  accurately  and  strictly  speaking,  there  is 
no  foundation  in  nature,  or  in  natural  lazv,  why  a 
set  of  words  upon  parchment  should  convey  the 
dominion  of  land  ;  why  the  son  should  have  a 
right  to  exclude  his  fellow  creatures  from  a 
determinate  spot  of  the  ground  because  his  father 


WORDS   AND   DEFINITIONS.  105 

had  done  so  before  him  ;  or  why  the  occupier 
of  a  particular  field,  when  lying  upon  his  death 
bed,  and  no  longer  able  to  maintain  possession, 
should  be  entitled  to  tell  the  rest  of  the  world 
which  of  them  should  enjoy  it  after  him." 

166  Why  should  not  we  proceed  thus  in  deal-    .  Jhc  e^se.n- 

•^i     i         i  •*       TT         •  •  i      r  i         11         •  tla'     simplicity 

ing  with  land  ?  Here  is  a  parcel  of  land,  having  Of  dealings  in 
a  rental  value  varying  slightly  perhaps  from  year  land- 
to  year,  according  to  the  progress  and  growth  of 
the  community,  not  capriciously,  but  in  unison 
with  all  the  surrounding  parcels  of  land,  its 
previous  variations  in  amount  and  of  course  its 
present  value  easily  ascertainable  by  consul- 
tation with  the  tax  assessor  or  his  list,  if  neces- 
sary. Mr.  A.,  the  present  occupant  of  this 
parcel,  owns  some  improvements  upon  it,  but 
desiring  to  retire,  he  offers  his  improvements  for 
sale  to  Mr.  B.  B.  dismisses  the  land  itself  entirely 
from  his  mind,  and  confines  his  attention  solely 
to  the  value  of  the  improvements.  He  offers  a 
sum  as  purchasing  price  for  them,  and  the 
bargain  is  struck.  Or  otherwise,  if  B.  be  a  poor 
man,  without  ready  cash,  he  agrees  to  hire  A.'s  im- 
provements at  so  much  a  year  rental,  with  the  re- 
served right  to  purchase  at  any  future  time  at  a 
price  then  and  there  agreed  upon.  The  tax  col- 
lector makes  his  periodical  call  on  the  owner  of  the 
improvements  and  always  holds  a  lien  on  these 
as  his  security  for  the  payment  of  the  rental 
value.  If  B.  purchases  the  improvements  from 
A.,  then  the  assessor  will  in  future  transfer  his 
attentions  to  B.,  but  if  the  latter  only  hires  the 
improvements  from  A.,  then  he  will  continue  to 
call  on  A.  for  the  rental  value,  until  the  improve- 
ments have  changed  ownership.  Should  A. 
desire  to  make  his  will,  he  will  be  free  to  dis- 
pose of  the  value  of  his  improvements  in  any 


IO6      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

manner  as  he  please,  subject  only  to  this  one 
condition,  that  they  must  continue  as  security 
for  the  rental  value  of  the  land  as  long  as  he 
desires  to  retain  the  privilege  of  nominating 
his  successor  in  occupation  of  the  land. 
The  unintd-  \Q<y  ]s  not  that  the  whole  land  question 
of 'the  lawyfrs!  m  a  nutshell  ?  Why  should  lawyers  seek  to 
expand  it  so  that  it  will  fill  an  encyclopaedia 
or  even  occupy  a  whole  library  ?  Why  may 
it  not  be  made  as  easy,  almost,  to  transfer  the 
possession  of  a  piece  of  land  as  of  a  purse  of 
money  ?  Why  should  real  property  involve  so 
much  more  complication  than  personal  property  ? 
Why  need  we  poor  uninstructed  laymen  be  so 
terribly  perplexed  and  bewildered  in  endeavour- 
ing to  understand  all  those  seemingly  subtle  and 
incomprehensible  distinctions  with  which  the 
law  of  real  property  at  present  abounds  ? 
Lands,  tenements,  and  hereditaments,  corporeal, 
and  incorporeal,  chattels,  easements,  equitable 
and  legal,  affirmative  and  negative,  by  pre- 
scription and  otherwise,  extinguishment  by 
release  or  by  merger,  estates  freehold,  and 
less  than  freehold,  estates  of  inheritance,  and 
not  of  inheritance,  fees  simple  and  qualified, 
estates  tail  and  no  tail,  estates  to  A.  and  his 
heirs,  to  the  use  of  B.  and  his  heirs,  to  the 
use  of  C.  and  his  heirs,  and  so  on,  as  if  we  were 
going  through  the  alphabet,  estates  for  life  and  for 
years,  legal  and  conventional,  feoffment,  seisin 
and  livery,  primogeniture  and  gavelkind,  rights 
of  curtesy,  dower  and  jointure,  feoffor  and 
feoffee,  grantor  and  grantee,  vendor  and  vendee, 
mortgagor  and  mortgagee,  "purchasers,"  pro- 
tectors of  settlements,  remainder-men,  wastes  and 
incumbrances,  estates  at  will,  at  sufferance,  or 
upon  condition,  estates  in  severally,  in  joint 


WORDS   AND   DEFINITIONS. 


lO/ 


tenancy,  in  coparcenary,  and  in  common,  unities 
four  and  not  one,  estates  in  possession  or  in  ex- 
pectancy, uses  and  trusts,  trusts  upon  uses, 
executed  and  unexecuted,  springing,  shifting, 
and  resulting,  remainders,  vested  and  contingent, 
estates  particular  and  otherwise,  executory 
devises,  perpetuities,  reversions,  powers,  colla- 
teral and  appurtenant,  bargain  and  sale,  lease 
and  release,  conversion  and  reconversion,  frauds, 
torts,  and  innumerable  other  distinctions  which 
make  up  a  mountain  of  jargon,  unintelligible, 
and  surely  to  a  large  extent  unnecessary. 

168  Why  could  not  lawyers  be  well  advised, 
and  trouble  their  heads  no  more  in  future  about 
ownership  of  land  ?  That  question  was  settled 
once  and  for  all  when  the  foundations  of  the 
world  were  laid,  and  it  is  futile  for  them  to  try 
to  wrest  it  from  the  Absolute  Owner  who  created 
it.  All  such  efforts  must  inevitably  be  pre- 
destined to  ultimate  failure.  When  once  it  has 
been  decreed  that  the  State  will  collect  for  the 
community  the  full  rental  value  from  those 
whom  it  permits  to  enjoy  the  usufruct  of  the 
land  there  will  be  no  more  questions  re- 
garding the  ownership  of  the  land,  but  only  of 
the  improvements  standing  upon  it,  and  the 
State  will  regard  him  who  owns  the  improve- 
ments as  the  one  who  is  responsible  for  the 
payment  of  that  rental  value. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE   COMMUNITY  AND   ITS   WANTS. 

The  meaning       169    THERE  arc  still  two  other  terms  which 

"Community™  vve    have    frequently    used,    which    need    to    be 

further   defined    and    explained   before  we    can 

proceed     to     the     subjects    of    the     following 

chapters. 

The  "community,"  as  we  have  hitherto  used 
the  term,  has  been  used  almost  as  a  synonym 
for  the  State  or  the  Nation,  and  thus  has  stood 
for  the  whole  people  in  its  corporate  capacity, 
and  generally  also  with  the  idea  involved  of  its 
continuous  and  persisting  life  from  generation  to 
generation.  We  shall  more  often  in  what  follows 
use  the  term  without  implying  the  idea  of  its 
continuous  life,  in  which  case  its  meaning  will 
include  only  the  whole  people  co-existing  at  one 
and  the  same  time,  the  living  people  or  nation. 

Its  smaKcr  17Q  But  without  affecting  any  of  the  argu- 
ments in  the  preceding  chapters  we  may  sub- 
divide this  community  of  one  generation  into 
smaller  divisions  of  local  communities.  We 
may  speak  in  this  sense  of  the  community  in- 
habiting a  county,  or  district,  a  municipal 
borough,  a  township,  a  village,  or  a  parish.  It 
will  probably,  however,  be  sufficient  for  our 
purpose,  if  we  distinguish  merely  the  nation  or 


THE   COMMUNITY  AND   ITS   WANTS.       IOQ 


whole  community  in  contradistinction  with  the 
county  or  district  community,  and  the  municipal 
and  parochial  communities. 

171  And  so  when  we  speak  in  like  manner 
of  the  "  wants  "  or  needs  of  a  community,  we 
shall  have  to  specify  to  which  of  these  different 
areas   we   refer.     For   obviously  the    wants   of 
these  local  communities  will  differ  not  only  in 
amount  in  consequence  of  their  size  and  popula- 
tion, but  also  to  some  extent  in  kind  and  degree 
in  consequence  of  other  circumstances. 

172  Now  since  in  every  case  the  community 
is  made  up  of  separate  individuals,  the  aggregate 
of  whose  separate  rights  forms  the  sum-total  of 
the  rights  of  the  community,  so  in  like  manner 
the  wants  of  the  community  will  be  the  com- 
bined  wants  of   the   individuals  composing  it. 
But  the  wants  of  each  individual  are  not  entirely 
the  same  ;  some  such  as  food,  clothing,  etc.,  are 
common    to    all,    though    admitting    of    much 
diversity  in  matters  of  detail ;  other  wants  there 
are  which  are  common  only  to  particular  classes 
of  individuals.     Hence  when  we  come  to  con- 
sider  the   question   of  providing  for  the  com- 
munity wants  (as  we  shall  begin   to  do  in  the 
next  chapter),  it  is  evident  that  there  are  some 
which   can    be  provided  for  best  by  the   com- 
munity acting  in  its  corporate  capacity  for  the 
whole,  and  there  are  others  which  are  best  left 
to  each  individual  acting  for  himself  alone. 

173  We  shall,  therefore,  have  need  of  some 
principles  to  guide  us,  first  in  the  selection  and 
next   in  the  provisions    suitable   for   supplying 
those  wants  which  the  community  acting  in  its 
corporate   capacity   might   undertake   to    make 
provision     for    on     behalf     of     its     individual 
members. 


The  "wants" 
of  communities 


Some  to  be 
provided  for  by 
the  community, 
and  some  left 
t  o  individual 
members. 


The  need  of 
some  selection. 


1 10      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 
The  funda-       174    What  then  is  the  first  and  fundamental 

mental    princi-     .     .       ..  ,          ..  ..       ,-r    n      T^I 

pie  of  commu-  principle   of   community  life  ?     1  he  answer   to 

nityiife.  this  seems  to  be   suggested   by   the   analogous 

question  in  regard  to  individual  life. 

Every  community  has  freedom  to  do  all  that 
it  wills,  provided  that  it  infringes  not  the  equal 
freedom  of  any  other  community. 

This  would  express  the  limiting  law  of  its 
action  with  reference  to  communities  outside  of 
itself,  but  with  reference  to  the  individuals  of 
which  it  is  itself  composed,  some  further  rules 
are  needed. 
Monopolies  175  We  must  remember  that  the  right  of 

should    remain  •     j  •    •  i       i   j.      j          i  i  MI- 

in  the  hands  of  every  individual  to  do  whatever  he  may  will,  is 
the  communi-  subject  to  the  limitation  that  his  liberty  must 
bTentfustecfto  not  infringe  upon  the  equal  liberty  of  every 
private  corpor-  other.  This  suggests  at  once  the  only  rule 
which  seems  necessary  to  be  observed  when  we 
consider  in  what  way,  if  at  all,  the  community 
may  engage  in  the  work  of  either  production  or 
distribution  of  wealth.  In  most  cases  the  work 
of  production  may  be  most  wisely  and  safely 
left  to  the  control  and  management  of  labourers 
and  capitalists,  either  as  individuals  or  in  cor- 
porations. But  if  the  work  be  of  such  a  cha- 
racter as  to  seem  to  require  that  special  fran- 
chises should  be  given  to  some  corporation  to 
enable  it  to  perform  it,  or  if  otherwise  it  be 
a  work  of  unusual  magnitude,  then  a  monopoly 
is  necessarily  called  into  existence,  which,  if  it 
cannot  be  effectively  controlled,  interferes  with 
the  equal  rights  of  others  to  engage  in  the  same 
work.  In  any  such  case,  then,  it  is  unwise  to 
entrust  a  private  corporation  with  such  a  power : 
either  the  State  or  the  local  communities  must 
undertake  that  function.  This  applies  to  the 
cases  of  the  post  office,  and  the  railroads,  the 


THE   COMMUNITY  AND   ITS   WANTS.       Ill 


telegraphs  and  telephones,  to  the  supply  of  gas, 
water,  electricity  and  heat,  &c. 

176  When  we  come  to  consider  what  func-  *  Further  rules 
tions  the  community  may  engage  in  as  regards  [hefeiSonof 
the  work  of  distribution  of  wealth,  or  rather  of  wants  to  be 
benefits  resulting  from  wealth,  we  may  observe 

that  obviously  these  are  the  wants  to  be  pro- 
vided for  by  the  community,  which  should  be 
selected  and  preferred,  viz.  : 

i.  Those  that  can  be  supplied,  so  that  every 
individual,  without  discrimination,  may  benefit 
if  he  pleases,  and 

ii.  Those  that  cannot  so  well  for  any  reason 
be  supplied  by  individuals  acting  for  them- 
selves alone. 

177  And  when  the  selection  has  been  made,      The  limita- 
and  measures  are  taken  for  the  supply  of  any  tlon  ^  regards 

.....  .   .  rr  j  j     individual 

want,  the  limitation  to  be  observed  in  every  case  liberty. 
as  regards  personal  liberty  is  that  every  individual 
may  either  avail  himself  of  the  benefit  offered  or 
not,  as  he  pleases  ;  and  that  if  he  neglect  to  do 
so,  or  if  he  choose  to  dissent,  he  shall  be  per- 
fectly free  to  provide  for  his  own  individual  need 
of  that  particular  kind  as  he  may  please,  and  be 
subject  to  no  disadvantage  or  restraint  by  reason 
of  his  dissent,  other  than  the  loss  of  his  share  of 
the  benefit  which  the  community  freely  offers 
for  his  use  as  well  as  of  others. 


CHAPTER   VII. 


1  he  distribu- 
tion  of  the 
community 
fund. 


The  appoint- 
in  e  n  t  of  the 
tax-assessors. 


The  division 
of  the  fund  into 
National  and 
Local  appor- 
tionments. 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF  THE   COMMUNITY 
FUND. 

178  TlIE  collection  of  the  rental  value  of  the 
land  to  form  a  community   fund  having  been 
dealt    with   in    Chapter    IV.,   we  are   prepared 
now   to   consider  the  distribution   of  this  fund 
for  the  benefit  of  the   community.     How  shall 
this  fund  be  distributed,  so  that  each   member 
of    the    community    shall    derive  from  it    the 
greatest  possible  benefit  ? 

179  We  have,  as  yet,  said  nothing  as  to  who 
should  appoint  the  assessors  who  collect  the  tax, 
nor  to  whom  they  should  hand  it  over  when 
collected.     This  is  a  matter  of  but  little  import- 
ance to  discuss  here,  as  it  involves  no  special 
principle.       Probably     the     best     arrangement 
would  be  for  the  assessors  and  collectors  to  be 
appointed  by  the  local  communities,  under  the 
supervision  of  a  National   Board.     Thus  there 
would  be  county  assessors  for  the  counties,  and, 
perhaps,   parochial   assessors   for    the    different 
parishes,     and     municipal     assessors     for     the 
boroughs. 

180  When  the  funds  have  reached  the  hands 
of  the  County  Treasurers  and  Borough  Trea- 
surers,  we   might    suppose   them    to    be   liable 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  COMMUNITY  FUND.    113 

to  a  tax  laid  upon  them  by  the  Government,  to 
obtain  its  National  apportionment,  and  the 
remainders  would  continue  in  the  hands  of  the 
Local  Treasurers  as  the  apportionments  for  the 
local  communities.  The  Government  might  be 
awarded,  for  national  purposes,  a  percentage 
tax  on  the  total  amounts,  we  may  say  ten, 
twenty,  or  fifty  per  cent,  according  to  circum- 
stances, and  the  national  needs  at  the  time. 

181  It  would  obviously  be  a  considerable  help 
if  we  could  foresee  exactly,  or  even    approxi- 
mately, what  the  amount  of  this  common  fund 
might   be.     Unfortunately,   thoroughly   reliable 
statistics    concerning   the   present   tenants    and 
cultivators  of  the  land,  the  names  of  the  land- 
lords, the  extent  of  their  estates,  their  present 
selling   values,   and    the   annual    rentals   which 
landholders  now  receive,  do  not  now  exist,  and, 
perhaps,  could  not  at  present  be  easily  obtained. 
The  rent  which  they  receive  for  their  land  is  mixed 
up,  in  many  cases,  with  the  rental  for  improve- 
ments, and  the  selling  value  of  the  bare  land  is 
not  solely  that  which  is  due  to  its  usefulness  or 
desirableness    in    regard   of  its   fertility,   or   its 
situation,   but    is    largely    augmented    by    the 
influence  of  speculation  as  to  the  future  needs 
of  the  community. 

182  According  to  the   Income  Tax  returns, 
the   annual  value   of  the   land   of  the  United 
Kingdom    was  assessed  in    1887  at  more  than 
200    millions    of  pounds   sterling.     Since,  how- 
ever, the  speculative  value  of  land,  being  a  part 
of  the  selling  value,  would  disappear  along  with 
it,  and  a  large  sum  must  be  deducted  also  as  the 
value  of  improvements,  we  might,  merely  for  the 
sake  of  argument  and  illustration,  suppose  the 
full  rental  value  which  would  be  collected  by  the 


114      T1IE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The    appor- 
tionment   sup- 


accomplished. 


community,  to  be  about  200  millions.  The  first 
effect  of  the  proposed  change  in  the  system  of 
tenure  would  doubtless  be  to  diminish  very  con- 
siderably the  rental  of  land,  for  a  great  deal  of 
ill-cultivated  and  unimproved  land  would  be 
thrown  upon  the  market,  and  probably  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  it  would  become  free  land, 
paying  no  rent,  or  but  little,  for  a  length  of  time. 
When,  however,  the  land  had  all  been  taken  up  by 
cultivators  and  occupiers,  as  it  doubtless  would 
be  in  a  short  time,  and  when  it  began  to  be 
thoroughly  cultivated,  and  its  powers  of  pro- 
ducing developed  to  its  highest  capacity,  the 
annual  return  to  its  possessor  would  be  very 
largely  augmented,  and  then  its  rental  value 
would  begin  to  steadily  appreciate,  and  might 
reach  a  far  higher  limit  than  we  would  now 
venture  to  predict. 

183  We  will  suppose,  then,  that  a  fair  ap- 
portionment of  the  common  fund  has  been  made, 
a  certain  portion  being  set  aside  to  provide  for 
the  national  needs,  and  the  remainder  retained 
to  provide  for  strictly  local,  county  and  muni- 
cipal or  parochial  needs  ;  and  we  may  now 
proceed  in  the  next  chapter  to  discuss  the  best 
and  wisest  disposition  of  the  national  appor- 
tionment, and  in  the  following  chapter,  that  of 
the  apportionment  of  the  local  communities. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    DISPOSAL    OF    THE    NATIONAL    APPOR- 
TIONMENT. 

184  WHEN  we  come  to  consider  the  question  The  National 
of  what  should  be  done  with  the  National  ap- 
portionment out  of  the  common  fund,  we  enter 
upon  a  very  serious  question.  Our  historical  en- 
quiry has  shewed  us  that  the  National  Debt  had 
its  legislative  origin  in  the  action  of  the  Parlia- 
ment of  1660,  on  which  occasion  (as  the  crowning 
act  of  their  policy  of  encroachment  and  repudia- 
tion pursued  through  several  preceding  centuries) 
the  landlords  repudiated  the  conditions  which  had 
previously  been  attached  to  the  holding  of  land, 
and  threw  the  burden  of  providing  for  the 
military  needs  of  the  Kingdom  upon  the  com- 
munity at  large,  meanwhile,  however,  continuing 
to  retain  possession  of  their  lands  as  heretofore. 
The  vicious  consequences  of  this  repudiation  are 
now  seen  in  the  abnormal  growth  of  the  National 
Debt,  which  has  afflicted  every  generation  since, 
and  remains  a  burden  for  posterity  to  endure, 
sufficient  almost  (if  it  should  continue  to  grow  in 
the  centuries  to  come  at  the  rate  of  the  past 
two  centuries)  to  deter  posterity,  if  it  were 
allowed  a  choice,  even  from  coming  into  exist- 
ence at  all. 


Il6      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 
Posterity's       185  This  question  of  the  National  Debt  is 

v i e  w    o  f   the  ,       ,  ,      , ,  .  c  , 

question,  undoubtedly  a  very  serious  one  trom  a  moral 

point  of  view.  It  is  usually  assumed  that 
posterity  will  be  very  wicked  if  it  ever  venture 
to  entertain  any  objection  to  shouldering  this 
burden.  It  is  expected  that  it  will  always 
meekly  bend  its  back  to  receive  the  load  which 
its  ancestors  have  laid  upon  it,  and  will  ask  no 
inconvenient  questions  why  it  should  be  thus 
doomed,  from  the  very  commencement  of  its 
existence,  to  stoop  and  crawl  wearily  along, 
when  it  might  otherwise  have  walked  gaily 
and  cheerily  on  its  way.  It  would  not  do  to  tell 
it  that  it  had  had  a  sucession  of  quarrelsome  and 
spendthrift  ancestors,  who  had  borrowed  money 
lavishly  and  improvidently  to  engage  in  pro- 
longed and  continual  feuds  with  their  neigh- 
bours, and  had,  in  consequence,  pledged  posterity 
(of  whose  meek  and  peaceable  disposition,  and 
superabounding  wealth,  and  high  sense  of  honour 
it  would,  of  course,  have  been  most  culpable  in 
them  to  have  entertained  a  doubt)  to  pay  the 
debts  thus  incurred,  because  in  the  view  of  its 
ancestors,  posterity  would  be  benefited  in  some 
way,  not  now  easily  explicable,  by  the  lavish 
warlike  expenditure  then  indulged  in.  Any 
idea  that  posterity  might  perchance  have  as 
many  cares  and  obligations  of  its  own  to 
contend  with,  as  it  could  properly  meet,  does 
not  seem  to  have  penetrated  into  the  recesses  of 
the  ancestral  mind.  What  answer  shall  be  given 
when  posterity  ventures  to  suggest  that  it  is 
open  to  question  whether  there  was  much 
benefit  to  anyone  resulting  from  those  constant 
quarrels  ;  whether  there  might  not  have  been 
more  benefit  had  they  remained  at  peace  with 
their  neighbours ;  whether  supposing  there 


DISPOSAL  OF  NATIONAL  APPORTIONMENT.     1 1/ 

were  any  benefit  accruing  to  its  ancestors,  one  or 
two  centuries  ago,  any  portion  of  that  benefit 
had  remained  to  be  transmitted  so  far  down  the 
stream  of  time  as  to  affect  the  now  remote  pos- 
terity to  any  perceptible  extent  ;  whether,  in 
fact,  there  can  be  any  room  for  a  decent  com- 
parison between  the  benefits  accruing  to  it  by 
that  expenditure  and  the  enormous  sum  of 
nearly  800  millions  of  debt  which  it  is  expected 
ultimately  to  pay,  and  meanwhile  in  addition  to 
supplying  its  own  similar  immediate  needs  to 
extract  a  sum  of  nearly  30  millions  every  year 
from  its  hard  earnings  in  payment  of  the  interest 
thereof? 

186  And  when  the  ancestors  begin  to  rejoin  The  n™rve1' 
somewhat  angrily  and  surlily  that  it  is  too  late  tion  Of  our 
now  to  talk  like  that,  that  the  bargain  was  duly  ancestors  in  in- 
and  legally  made,  and  they  must  abide  by  it,  we  c 
may  expect  that  posterity  will  be  moved  to 
enquire,  By  whom,  and  when,  was  this  bargain 
entered  into  ?  and  it  will  then  learn  that  all  this 
was  fully  arranged  before  anyone  had  troubled 
himself  about  posterity  coming  into  a  future 
existence ;  that,  in  due  course,  the  money  was 
borrowed,  and  loaned,  and  spent,  and  the 
arrangement  duly  made  between  debtor  and 
creditor,  by  which  posterity  was  duly  pledged. 
There  was  no  impartial  judge  to  summon 
posterity  before  him,  and  call  upon  it  to  stand 
forth,  and  shew  cause  why  its  earnings  should 
not  be  so  pledged  ;  and  if  there  had  been,  there 
was  no  advocate  present  to  explain  on  behalf  of 
posterity  that  it  was  unable  to  put  in  an  appear- 
ance for  itself,  or  to  plead  its  own  cause,  because 
of  the  imminent  risk  and  peril  to  its  future  life 
and  existence  which  it  would  undergo  by  a  pre- 
mature and  untimely  effort  to  appear  on  the 


IlS      THE   LAND  AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

stage  of  its  existence.  And  so,  of  course,  judg- 
ment would  be  justly  entered  against  it  by 
default,  the  ancestor  promptly  undertaking  to 
fill  the  role  of  both  suitor  and  presiding  judge. 
The  process  seems,  as  we  look  back  upon  it,  to 
have  been  so  apparently  straightforward  and 
simple,  that  the  marvel  is,  not  that  posterity  has 
been  saddled  with  a  debt  of  800  millions,  but 
rather  how  it  has  escaped  a  debt  of  8,000 
millions. 

The  need  of  187  It  does  not  seem  to  be  so  unreasonable 
of  limitations?  tnat  ^e  same  principles  of  honesty  in  the  dis- 
charge of  debts  which  govern  individuals  should 
also  be  applicable  to  generations.  A  parent  does 
not  usually  hold  his  children  responsible  for  the 
payment  of  his  debts  out  of  their  earnings  ; 
on  the  contrary,  he  is  often  unnecessarily 
anxious  to  lay  by  in  order  to  save  them  from 
the  necessity  of  too  much  exertion  on  their 
own  behalf.  Is  not  every  man  required  by 
law  to  pay  his  own  debts?  Why  should  not 
every  generation  likewise  bear  its  own  burden, 
and  not  leave  it  to  posterity  to  discharge? 
Would  not  that  be  a  more  honourable  and 
honest  policy  ?  Is  it  not  a  pity  that  the 
Parliament  of  1660,  after  allowing  the  land- 
lords to  repudiate  their  obligations,  did  not 
have  so  much  forethought  for  poor  posterity  as 
to  pass  at  the  same  time  a  Statute  of  Limita- 
tions requiring  every  future  generation,  if  it 
wished  to  borrow,  either  for  the  defence  of  the 
country  or  for  its  foreign  wars,  to  be  compelled 
to  do  so,  by  means  of  terminable  annuities 
only,  payable  within  such  a  limited  number  of 
years  (say  20)  as  might  be  supposed  to  be 
fairly  covered  by  the  working  lifetime  of  that 
generation  which  negotiated  the  loan.  There 


DISPOSAL  OF  NATIONAL  APPORTIONMENT.     Up 

could  not  then  have  arisen  this  monster  of 
debt.  And,  indeed,  when  we  come  to  think  of 
it,  why  should  not  such  a  Statute  be  passed 
now  ?  It  would  be  of  little  benefit  to  this 
generation,  it  is  true ;  but  it  would,  at  least, 
shew  that  we  had  endeavoured  to  be  more 
just  and  considerate  to  our  posterity  than  our 
ancestors  have  in  this  matter  been  to  us. 

188  By  showing  that  it  is  thus  possible  not 
only  to   check,   but  absolutely   to  cut   off,  that 
abnormally  prodigious  capability  of  growth  of 
the  monster,  which  has  been  at  some  periods 
of    its   existence    so    terrible    to    contemplate, 
posterity  may  at  length  be  encouraged  to  hope 
that  this  debt  is  not  now  inevitably  destined   to 
prolong  itself  through  an  eternity  of  existence, 
but  that  it   may  by  steady  and   continuous  self- 
denying  efforts  in  due  time  be  "  wiped  out." 

189  We  should  remember  that  it  might  be 
very  wicked,  and  it  might  perhaps  be  attended 
with  very  sad  results,  if  some  future  generation, 
moved  by  an  instinct  of  self-preservation,  should 
in  the  depth  of   its  despair  be  tempted  to  re- 
pudiate an  obligation  which  it  was  not  consulted 
about  undertaking,  and  which  it  felt  itself  unable, 
even  if  willing,  to  discharge.     It  should  not  be 
forgotten  also  that  repudiation  would  be  by  no 
means    a    new  thing  in  English  history.     Pos- 
terity, if  it  should  so  desire,  will  always  be  able 
to  plead  that  it  conscientiously  aims  to  tread  in 
the    well-marked   footsteps,   and  to   follow  the 
now  notorious  example  of  the  noble  landlords 
of  1660. 

190  From  what  has  now  been  said,  it  will  be 
understood  why  we  regard  the  diminution  and 
gradual  extinction  of  the  National  Debt,  by  the 
process  of    its   conversion    into  terminable   an- 


J20      'Hi  1C   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

nuities,  as  a  subject  of  pressing-  importance,  and 
to  which  that  apportionment  of  the  common  fund 
that  is  devoted  to  national  purposes  should  be 
directly  applied.  It  is  not  merely  the  danger  of 
repudiation  which  increases  writh  the  lapse  of 
time,  though  this  danger  may  be  very  real, 
notwithstanding  its  being  little  heeded,  because 
of  our  being  long  accustomed  to  it.  In  periods 
of  national  excitement  and  popular  pressure 
things  sometimes  happen  that  seem  unexpected, 
but  which,  nevertheless,  might  have  been  dis- 
tinctly foreseen,  had  a  sufficient  look-out  been 
observed. 

A  National  191  There  is  an  impression  abroad,  and  who 
not  be  encour-  shall  say  it  is  not  well  founded,  that  some 
aged  for  the  classes  in  the  community  favour  the  continuance 
"f  of>  or  at  any  ratc  look  with  coldness  and  luke- 
warmness  on  any  steps  being  taken  towards  the 
reduction  cr  extinction  of  the  system  of  National 
Debts,  because  it  furnishes  a  ready  means 
whereby  capitalists  desiring  to  invest  their 
superabundant  wealth,  can  obtain  what  is  called 
a  safe  and  undeniable  security  and  a  sure  in- 
terest without  trouble  or  risk  on  their  part, 
instead  cf  running  the  risks  which  arc  involved 
in  engaging  in  production.  This  may  be  all 
very  well  from  the  capitalist's  point  of  view,  but 
hardly  so  from  the  labourer's  and  producer's. 
Money  invested  in  the  Funds  adds  nothing  to 
the  production  of  wealth,  and  therefore  the 
interest  paid  to  the  fundholders  is  drawn,  not 
from  any  increase  which  those  investments  in 
the  Funds  have  created,  but  arc  purely  a  tax 
levied  on  the  community's  earnings,  without  any 
present  equivalent  accruing  to  the  community  at 
all.  On  the  other  hand,  capital  invested  in 
production,  creates  an  increase  for  itself,  and 


DISPOSAL  OF  NATIONAL  APPORTIONMENT.     121 

therefore  the  interest  which  it  derives  does  not 
diminish  the  reward  of  the  labourer,  and  is  no 
tax  upon  the  community's  resources,  but  on  the 
contrary  is  an  aid  to  it.  It  is  therefore  not  in 
the  interest  of  the  community,  that  investors 
should  be  encouraged  to  lock  up  their  capital  in 
the  Funds,  but  on  the  contrary  to  force  it  to 
seek  remunerative  investments  in  the  work  of 
production. 

192  This  consideration  will  be  seen  to  have      The  National 
the    more     weight    when    we    remember    that  iabourer°spoint 
whereas    formerly  the  monopolistic    classes    of  of  view, 
capitalists  and  landowners  who  thus  derived  a 

benefit  from  the  existence  of  a  National  Debt, 
and  had  a  direct  interest  in  its  maintenance  and 
perpetuity,  had,  until  recent  years,  the  control- 
ling power  and  influence  in  the  legislation  and 
government  of  the  country,  they  have  now  been 
to  a  considerable  extent  superseded  in  power  by 
those  masses  of  the  toilers  and  producers  in 
whose  eyes  a  National  Debt  is  in  its  barest  and 
most  naked  form  a  mere  tax  on  their  earnings, 
for  which  they  themselves  can  receive  no  visible 
or  tangible  equivalent 

193  Statesmen    and     legislators    also    have      The  tricks  of 
been  tempted  to  look  with  too   favourable  an  nSSga^ded 
eye  on  the  maintenance   of  a    National    Debt,  as  real  finan- 
because  it  furnishes  an  easy  and  ready  means  of  cial  suc< 
meeting,  or  rather  evading,  financial  difficulties. 

These  difficulties  are,  however,  in  truth,  only 
temporarily  evaded  :  they  are  but  postponed  to 
some  future  evil  day,  like  those  of  every  other 
spendthrift's  extravagance,  and  are  usually  im- 
mensely exaggerated  in  consequence  of  this 
postponement. 

These  tricks   of    so-called    statesmen  cannot 
be    commended    as  if   they  were  real    financial 


122      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  stability 
of  government 
must  no  longer 
be  considered 
to  depend  upon 
the  moneyed 
class. 


The  prohibi- 
tion of  National 
Debts  in  the 
future. 


T  h  e  poetic 
justiceof  apply- 
ing rental  values 
for  the  extinc- 
tion  of  the 
National  Debt. 


successes,  and  the  community  will,  in  time,  see 
through  their  transparent  weakness  and  flimsi- 
ness. 

194  Again,   it   is   said  that  Statesmen   have 
regarded     the    National     Debt     without     dis- 
favour,   because    it    interests   a    powerful    and 
important  moneyed  class  in  what  is  called  the 
stability  of    government      The    time    for    this 
argument    to    have    much   weight    is    rapidly 
passing  away,  and  in  future,  the  true  and  wise 
statesman    will  learn    to    rely  on    the   loyalty, 
soberness,  steadiness,  and    honesty  of  the  mass 
of  the  community,  rather  than  on  a  privileged 
few,  for    the  maintenance  and  stability  of   the 
country's  institutions  and  government. 

195  There  can  be  no  room  for   doubt   that 
the  best  and  truest  interests  of  all  classes  in  the 
community  point  out  the  rapid  reduction  and 
early  extinction   of  the   National  Debt,  and   its 
absolute  prohibition  in  the  future,  except  in  the 
form  of  short  terminable  annuities,  as  the  wisest 
policy  that  can  be  pursued  in  the   disposal  of 
any  appointment  out  of  the  community  funds 
for  national  purposes. 

196  There  is,  however,  one  other  important 
reason  which  may  be  added,  if  any  other   be 
needed,  and  that  is   the  special  appropriateness 
and  poetic  justice  of  such  a  disposition  of  the 
fund  which  we  perceive  when  we  compare   the 
origin  of  the  National  Debt  with  the  source  from 
which  this  fund  would  be  obtained.     It  was  the 
landlords' repudiation  in    1660  of  rent  or  other 
services  in  return  for  their  land  that  gave  rise  to 
the  necessity  of  creating  a  National    Debt.     It 
would   therefore  be   a    manifest   vindication    of 
justice  and  law,  after  two  centuries'  patient  en- 
durance of  wrong,  to  now  set  aside  the  proceeds 


DISPOSAL  OF  NATIONAL  APPORTIONMENT     123 

of  the  rental  value  of  land  for  the  extinguish- 
ment of  that  debt.  The  moral  triumph  of  that 
vindication  might  teach  a  most  beneficial  object 
lesson  to  the  legislators  of  the  future,  by  showing 
them  in  a  practical  warning  the  retributive  con- 
demnation which,  however  long  delayed,  will 
yet  one  day  overtake  their  work  and  deeds,  if 
they  swerve  from  the  principles  of  honesty  and 
justice,  or  fail  to  perform  that  primary  function 
of  government,  the  maintenance  and  preserva- 
tion of  every  member  of  the  community,  small 
as  well  as  great,  poor  as  well  as  rich,  humble  as 
well  as  powerful,  in  the  due  exercise  and  en- 
joyment of  his  natural  rights.  England  expects 
not  only  every  man,  but  every  generation,  to  do 
its  duty. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


The  disposal 
o  f  the  local 
apportion- 
ments  needs 
further  consid- 
eration. 


The  burden 
of  county  and 
borough  rates. 


THE  DISPOSAL   OF   THE    APPORTIONMENT    FOR 
THE   LOCAL  COMMUNITIES. 

197  WHEN  we  considered  the  question  of  the 
disposal  of  the  National  Apportionment,  we  did 
not  find   it  necessary   to   search  long  before  de- 
ciding on  a  suitable  plan  for  its  disposal.     We 
did    not    enter    into  a  general     discussion     of 
national  wants,  because  the  apportionment,  how- 
ever large  in  amount,  may  well  be  devoted  en- 
tirely to  one  purpose  for  many  years  to  come. 
When   we  come  to  the  question   of  the  Local 
apportionments,  the  case  is  somewhat  different. 

198  This  portion  could  evidently  be  used  to 
provide  for  those  needs  which  are  provided  for 
at    present    by  the  imposition    of    county   and 
borough    rates    levied     for    various     purposes. 
These  now  fall  as  a    heavy  burden  mainly  on 
householders,  diminishing  their  personal  property 
and  the  earnings   of  labour.     They  are  thus  a 
restraint  on  production,  decreasing  by  so   much 
the  capital  that  might  be  invested  in    it,   and 
limiting  the  avenues  open  to  the  workman  for 
remunerative  employment.     Any  diminution   of 
the  burden  of  rates  upon  personal  property  will 
therefore  have   a   most  beneficial   effect  on   the 
improvement  of  the  labourer's  condition,  and   it 


APPORTIONMENT   FOR  COMMUNITIES.     125 

will  also  benefit  those  real  capitalists  whose 
interests  are  identified  with  those  of  the 
labourer's,  and  whose  profits  do  not  arise  from 
the  possession  of  any  monopoly,  such  as  that 
which  landholders  and  some  corporations  at 
present  possess,  and  which  they  exercise  to  the 
disadvantage  of  every  other  member  of  the 
community. 

199  The   amount   of  debt  owing  by  cities,      Thc  total 

,-  j       ,1          .         .....  t   e  amount  of  local 

counties,  and  other  local  divisions  (of  course  indebtedness. 
apart  from  their  share  in  the  National  Debt) 
exceeds  200  millions  sterling,  and  the  tendency 
of  the  times  is  to  an  increase  of  the  amounts 
necessary  for  supplying  the  common  wants  of 
the  local  communities. 

200  It  would  probably  be  a   wise  policy  to      Why    the 
restrain  or  more  strictly  guard  this  tendency  on  ^fl  ^ecUon- 
the  part  of  local  communities  to  incur  debts,  and  able  than  the 
thus  enable  local   officers  to  impose  a  part  of  ] 

their  local  burdens  upon  their  successors  in 
office,  and  escape  the  odium  of  taxation  which 
would  otherwise  fall  wholly  upon  themselves. 
The  system  operates  against  the  exercise  of  a 
due  economy  in  expenditure,  and  is  liable  to 
much  abuse  in  other  ways.  But  as  this  debt  is 
usually  in  the  form  of  terminable  annuities,  ex- 
tending over  a  moderate  period  of  years,  and 
representing  always  some  public  works  whose 
use  and  value  to  the  community  is  likely  to  ex- 
tend at  least  as  long  as  the  period  covered  by  the 
annual  payments,  if  it  be  conceded  that  debts 
should  be  permitted  at  all,  these  are  much  less 
open  to  objection  than  is  the  National  Debt, 
and  we  do  not  therefore  suggest  that  the  ap- 
portionments for  the  local  communities  should 
be  devoted  exclusively  to  the  extinction  of 
these  debts. 


126      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 
The  division       £Q1    Further,    we    must    observe    that     the 

of  the  local  ,.  r '  ,        ,         , 

expenditures  expenditures  ot  the  local  communities  may  be 
into  two  por-  divided  broadly  into  two  classes,  the  first  of 
which  is  to  enable  the  local  governing  bodies 
to  perform  their  repressive  functions  for  the 
restraint  of  the  evil-disposed,  and  the  second 
class  is  to  provide  for  the  convenience  and 
comfort  of  the  better  and  orderly  portion  of 
the  community. 

Theprospec-  202  Under  the  first  heading  it  is  necessary 
o'f  Expenditure  to  provide  funds  for  the  administration  of  justice, 
necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  law  and  order,  the  protection 
fuhnctioenPsrofSthl  of  the  lives  and  liberties  of  the  citizens,  the 
local  govern-  punishment  of  the  criminal  classes,  and  the 
restraint  and  reformation  of  the  vicious.  All  of 
these  different  purposes  combine  to  inflict  a  tax 
on  the  community,  to  be  relieved  of  which,  if  it 
should  ever  become  unnecessary,  through  the 
improved  morality  of  the  people,  would  be  an 
unmixed  benefit  and  a  great  saving  of  the  public 
funds  for  other  purposes.  That  such  a  result  is 
not  to  be  regarded  as  wholly  possible  is  quite 
true  ;  but  that  it  is  partially  possible  is  quite 
certain,  for  experience  has  demonstrated  it. 
That  we  may  look  with  confidence  for  a  large 
decrease  in  the  expenditures  for  these  objects  is 
a  reasonable  expectation  as  a  result  of  the  in- 
creased prosperity,  and  the  diminution  of  in- 
voluntary poverty,  and  of  the  crimes  which 
result  from  want  and  the  fear  of  want,  which 
would  certainly  follow  upon  the  opening  up  of 
the  natural  opportunities  consequent  upon  the 
resumption  of  the  possession  of  the  land  by  the 
whole  community.  The  spread  of  education 
amongst  the  poorer  classes  has  already  justified 
the  predictions  that  were  confidently  made  by 
those  who  were  once  deemed  enthusiasts,  in  the 


APPORTIONMENT   FOR   COMMUNITIES.     I2/ 

closing  up  of  many  prisons  and  county  jails,  in 
the  growth  of  temperance  and  in  the  encouraging 
diminution  of  the  many  evils  begotten  by  intoxi- 
cation. Much  more  good  may  reasonably  be 
hoped  for,  when  effective  measures  are  taken  to 
remove  the  causes  which  are  now  mainly  re- 
sponsible for  the  wide-spread  difficulty  of  ob- 
taining remunerative  employment. 

203  There  is,  therefore,  good  reason  to  hope  What  the 
that  there  will  be,  in  the  future,  a  less  demand  £^ts  d°Vefor 
than  at  present  for  community  funds  for  re-  the  weii-order- 
pressive  purposes,  and  thus  it  will  leave  room  citizens.556 
for  an  extended  application  of  those  funds  to 
provide,  in  other  ways,  for  the  comfort  and 
happiness  of  the  well-conducted  classes  of 
citizens.  At  present  the  communal  wants  thus 
provided  for  usually  include  the  grading  and 
laying  down  and  repairing  of  roads  and  streets 
and  bridges,  the  lighting  and  cleaning  of  the 
same,  the  regulation  of  their  traffic,  the  construc- 
tion of  drains  and  sewers,  the  inspection  and 
removal  of  nuisances,  and  other  sanitary  pur- 
poses;  and  since  1870  the  care  of  elementary 
education  has  been  added.  In  many  cases  the 
local  community  also  provides  for  itself  water, 
in  some  places  also  gas,  and  in  a  few  instances 
public  libraries  and  reading-rooms,  museums, 
markets,  baths,  and  parks  for  recreation  and 
health.  The  facilities  of  the  post  office  and 
telegraph  are  provided  for  by  the  national  com- 
munity, not  by  the  local ;  but  the  railroads  of 
the  great  trunk  lines  throughout  the  country, 
which  are  on  the  Continent  operated  and  con- 
trolled by  the  National  Governments,  are  in 
England  still  left  in  the  hands  of  great  railroad 
corporations,  and  in  towns  the  street  railroads 
and  tram-car  lines,  instead  of  being  worked  by 


123      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

the  municipal  government,  are  similarly  put  into 
the  hands  of  local  corporations. 

The  need  of      201  As   we   consider   these   various   objects 

tiienseiectieon  of  selected  by  the  local  communities  as  spheres  for 

the  spheres  of  their  communal  action,  it  is  plain  that  the  selec- 

locai"  govern-  tion  nas  been  governed  rather  by  accidental  cir- 

ments.  cumstances  and  local   peculiarities  than  as  the 

result  of  any  general  principle.     And  if  it  should 

be  proposed  to  extend  these  provisions  into  a 

more  general  system,  it  will  be  advisable  that 

the  selection  should  be  made  according  to  some 

less  hap-hazard  method. 

The  objec-  205  Before,  however,  we  proceed  to  a  dis- 
tra*l Cation"  cussi°n  f°r  this  purpose,  we  may  here  be  met  by 
and  "  paternal  some  objector  who  entertains  a  conscientious 
obJection  to  what  is  called  "  centralization,"  and 
"  paternal  government,"  and  declares  that,  in  his 
judgment,  it  is  not  desirable  that  the  community 
should  undertake  to  supply  for  itself  any  of  its 
communal  wants,  and  that  the  duties  of  local  as 
well  as  national  governments  should  be  strictly 
confined  to  the  exercise  of  their  repressive 
functions  in  behalf  of  society,  and  leave  every 
individual  to  provide  for  his  own  wants  as  he 
may  please.  To  which  we  may  answer  that  we 
have  already  shown  that  both  in  national  and 
local  government  this  principle  has  actually  now 
been  departed  from  by  the  desire,  of  course,  and 
therefore  with  the  approval  of  the  great  majority 
of  the  community.  And  the  experiment  has 
justified  itself.  We  may  urge,  moreover,  that  it 
must  necessarily  be  departed  from  as  civilization 
advances  from  its  primitive  stage,  inasmuch  as  it 
would  be  impossible  for  each  individual  to 
provide  for  himself  alone,  for  example,  the 
facilities  of  the  post  office,  or  of  railroads,  streets 
and  bridges. 


APPORTIONMENT    FOR   COMM JNITIES.     129 


203  If  it  be  said  that  these  facilities  should 
be  left  to  be  provided  by  corporations,  then  we 
must  reply  that  if  the  community  thus  puts  upon 
a  body  of  individuals  a  duty  to  provide  for  any 
of  its  wants,  instead  of  performing  that  function 
for  itself,  it  must  expect  to  be  called  on  to 
reward  them  in  some  way  for  so  doing.  It  must 
bestow  upon  that  corporation  a  franchise  or 
privilege  which  it  does  not  give  to  others  in  the 
community,  thus  establishing  for  them  a  mono- 
poly, which,  in  the  end,  causes  the  community 
to  pay  much  more  for  the  supply  of  this 
particular  want  than  its  real  cost  of  production 
and  management,  which  excess  payment  tends 
to  enrich  the  members  of  that  corporation  at  the 
expense  of  all  the  rest  of  the  community. 
Whenever,  then,  the  supply  of  any  communal 
want  involves  the  establishment  of  a  monopoly, 
we  have  a  distinct  and  cogent  reason  why  that 
monopoly  should  remain  in  the  hands  of  the 
community,  and  not  be  given  over  to  a  corpora- 
tion ;  otherwise  it  is  equivalent  to  putting  a  tax 
on  the  community  for  the  benefit  of  a  few 
individuals. 

207  Further,  there  are  some  needs  which 
individuals  ought  to  be  quite  willing  to  supply 
for  themselves,  but  which  some  in  the  community 
would  scarcely  sufficiently  appreciate  at  their 
true  value,  if  left  to  their  own  judgment,  and 
would,  therefore,  neglect  to  supply  for  them- 
selves. The  welfare  of  the  whole  community 
might  render  it  expedient  that  these  should  be 
provided  for  all  by  the  community,  at  any  rate, 
until  such  time  as  the  moral  elevation  of  all  its 
members  might  render  it  certain  that  if  not 
provided  otherwise,  every  individual  would  seek 
to  provide  it  for  himself.  Such  an  argument 


The  danger 
of  allowing 
private  corpor- 
ations to  under- 
take the  func- 
t i o n s  of  the 
local  govern- 
ments. 


The  duty  of 
the  community 
to  secure  the 
supply  of  those 
higher  wants 
which  its  indi- 
vidual members 
might  be  temp- 
ted to  neglect. 


130      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  objec- 
tions of  "  cen- 
tral i  zation  " 
and  "  paternal 
govern  m  e  n  t  " 
have  weight 
only  in  refer- 
ence to  the 
national  not  to 
the  local  gov- 
ernments. 


The  classifi- 
cation of  indi- 
vidual wants. 


has  applied  with  great  force  to  the  case  of 
elementary  education,  and  now  applies  to 
technical  and  scientific  and  other  higher 
education.  It  has  also  applied  to  the  case  of 
religious  needs  in  every  age,  and  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  foresee  a  time  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind when  it  will  cease  to  be  altogether  in- 
applicable to  them. 

208  The  truth  is,  that  whatever  force  there 
may  be  in  the  arguments  against  the  so-called 
"  centralization    tendency "    they    derive     their 
greatest  strength  and  validity  from  their  refer- 
ence to  the  national  government,  and  not  to  the 
local  and   municipal  management.     It  may  be 
wise   not  to   heap   upon   the  shoulders   of  the 
Parliament  any  functions  that  can  be  as  well 
performed  by  the  local    bodies  elected    by  the 
provincial  communities,  because  that  is  to  con- 
fuse the  proper  spheres  of  the  two  bodies  ;  but 
evidently   there   is   another  alternative   besides 
centralization  and  the  present  anarchy,  and  that 
is  to  be  found  in  the  conservative  via-media  of 
a  legitimate  and  perfectly  loyal  "  home  rule  "  in 
the  local  communities. 

209  Let  us  endeavour  then  to  enumerate  and 
classify  some  of  the  principal  wants  of  the  local 
communities.      As    we     have    pointed    out    in 
Chapter  VI.,  these  are  the  aggregation  of  the 
wants  of  the  individuals   composing  the  com- 
munity.    Now  each  individual  member  is  made 
up  according  to   the   time-honoured  theory  of 
the   three   parts — body,   mind,   and   soul ;    and 
corresponding  to  these  three  parts,  therefore,  we 
must   have   three   classes   of    individual   wants, 
which    we    may    respectively   call,    the    bodily, 
mental,  and   spiritual.      These  three  classes  of 
wants  are  practically  independent  of  each  other, 


APPORTIONMENT   FOR   COMMUNITIES.     Ill 


and  their  boundaries  are,  therefore,  for  the  most 
part  sufficiently  well-defined. 

210  Corresponding   to    these   wants    in    the 
individual,  we  shall,  therefore,  have  three  classes 
of   community  wants,  distinguished  by  similar 
epithets — material,    intellectual,    and    religious. 
The  order  in  which  we  have  expressed  them  is 
that  which  indicates  their  relative  importance  as 
it  would  appear  to  a  community  emerging  from 
the  savage  towards  the  civilized  state.     Just  as 
in  the  case  of  the  individual,  the  wants  of  the 
material  body  politic  in  the  semi-civilized  stage, 
would  be  cared  for  almost  to  the  exclusion  of 
any  others.     This,  however,  is  not  the  order  of 
their    real    importance   when   the   highest   and 
most  permanent  interests  of  the  community  are 
concerned.     The  order,  in  fact,  must  be  exactly 
reversed,  and  we  must  place  them  in  order  of 
real    importance,    as    soul,    mind,   and    body  ; 
spiritual,     mental,    and     bodily    or     physical  ; 
religious,    intellectual,   and   material.      Such    is 
the   order   in   which   they   must    appear   when 
considered  in  reference  to  any  community  that 
would  lay  just  claim  to  be  called  civilized. 

211  The   question,  then,  is,  which   of  these 
different  classes  of  wants  shall  be  supplied  by 
the  community,  and  which  can  best  be  left  to 
individuals      acting      for      themselves     alone  ? 
Evidently  the  physical  or  material  wants  may 
be  more  safely  entrusted  to  the  latter  than  the 
intellectual    and   religious   wants  ;    not   indeed 
solely  because   the    former    might   be  wrongly 
esteemed  to  be  the  more  important,  but  because 
they   are  more  immediate  and   peremptory  in 
their    calls   on   the   individual's   attention,   and 
their   satisfaction    cannot    be    long    postponed 
without   danger    to    health    and    life.     The   in- 

9* 


The  corres- 
ponding classi- 
fication of  com- 
munal wants. 


\V  h  y  the 
supply  of  the 
higher  rather 
than  the  lower 
wants  should 
be  selected  by 
the  community 
as  its  sphere  of 
action. 


132      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

tellectual  and  religious  wants  are  less  imperative 
in  their  demands  for  our  attention,  and  will, 
therefore,  naturally  be  postponed  to  the 
exigencies  of  the  other.  For  this  very  reason, 
then,  the  intellectual  and  religious  wants  are  the 
more  appropriate  objects  for  the  care  of  the 
community  as  a  whole.  When  we  consider  also 
that  these  can  be  supplied  much  more  effectively 
and  economically  by  the  community  than  by 
individuals,  while  in  the  case  of  physical  and 
material  wants  this  saving  is  more  problema- 
tical ;  and  when  we  add  also  that  they  satisfy 
that  other  condition  laid  down  in  Chapter  VI., 
that  it  is  usually  possible  to  place  these  supplies 
within  reach  of  all,  so  that  all  may,  if  they 
please,  benefit  alike,  we  seem  to  have  sufficient 
grounds  to  enable  us  to  make  a  wise  choice. 


CHAPTER  X. 

HOW   MAY   THE   CHANGE   BE   EFFECTED 

212  Supposing  the  adoption  of  a  new  system 
of  land  tenure   to  have   been    decided  on,  the 
change  from  the  present  system  of  land  tenure 
to  the  one  we  propose  need  not  involve  much 
difficulty  either  as  regards  legislation  or  admini- 
stration.    We  may  suppose  then    a  bill  to  be 
introduced    into  Parliament,  entitled  "  An    Act 
for  effecting  the  resumption  of  the  land  by  the 
community,"  declaring  in  its  preamble  in  sub- 
stance as  follows : 

213  That  whereas  land  has  been  heretofore 
held  in  possession  by  landlords  as  tenants  under 
the  Crown  as  the  absolute  owner  of  all  land  on 
behalf  of  the  community,  and  that  since  A.D. 
1693  landlords   have    not  been    under    obliga- 
tion to  make  return  therefor  to  the  community, 
except  by  the  imposition  of  a  land  tax  of  four 
shillings  in  the  pound  calculated  on  a  valuation 
of  the  land  made  in  the  year  A.D.   1692,  which 
retuin  is  now  declared  to  have  been  altogether 
inadequate  for  the  privileges  enjoyed  by  them 
in    preference   over   the   equal    rights   of  other 
members    of    the    community    to    the    use    of 
the  land,  it  is  therefore  deemed   necessary  and 
just  now  to  declare  and  enact  that  from  and  after 


134      1IIE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  need  of 
making  a  grad- 
ual transition. 


The  supposed 
conditions 
affecting  the 
transferofland. 


the    first   of  January,  A.D. every    holder 

of  land  shall  be  required  to  pay  annually  in 
advance  to  the  assessors  duly  appointed  for 
that  purpose  a  sum  of  money  equivalent  to  the 
full  rental  value  of  the  land  to  be  ascertained  in 
the  manner  hereinafter  described. 
Be  it  therefore  enacted,  &c. 

214  Now  it  is  evident  that  while  some  such 
enactment  as  this  would  bring  about  the  desired 
result  and  restore  the  usufruct  of  the  land  to  the 
community,  yet  it  would,  if  effected  by  an  abrupt 
transition  from  the  present  to  the  new  system, 
cause   much   unnecessary  disturbance   both     to 
landlords,    and     in     consequence   to    all    other 
classes  in    the  community  ;  and   it  would  like- 
wise prevent  those  who  would  desire  to  obtain 
possession  of  land  under  the  new  conditions  from 
gradually  preparing  themselves  to  do  so  without 
undue  loss  and  inconvenience.     It  would  be  well 
therefore  to  have  a  preliminary  period  of  pre- 
paration, to    make    the   transition    not   at   one 
bound,  but  by  gradual  approach  through  a  series 
of  steps  extending  over  a  period  of  several  years. 
Let  us  see  how  this  might  be  arranged. 

215  First,  let  us  suppose  a  parcel  of  land,  the 
tenancy   or   possession    of  which    is    offered    at 
public   auction    in    open    market,  and   the  auc- 
tioneer announces  the  conditions  as  follows  : 

(i)  The  improvements  on  the  land  have  been 
valued  by  an  impartial  valuer,  and  are  to  be 
bought  (or  otherwise  hired  at  a  fair  rental  with 
option  of  subsequent  purchase)  by  the  incoming 
tenant 

(ii)  The  tenant  is  to  be  free  to  use  the  land 
for  any  purpose  and  in  any  way  he  may  deem 
most  advantageous  to  himself;  he  is  not  to  be 


HOW   MAY   CHANGE   BE   EFFECTED?      135 

limited  to  any  period  of  tenure,  and  he  is  to  be 
fully  free  to  sublet  it,  to  transfer  it  or  alienate  it 
to  anyone  else  subject  to  the  same  conditions  as 
he  himself  holds  it. 

(iii)  The  tenant  is  to  be  required  to  pay 
annually  in  advance  a  sum  such  as  would  be  an 
equivalent  for  the  full  rental  value  of  the  land. 

216  These  being  the  conditions,  the  amount 
of  each  bid  offered  is  then  to  represent  what  the 
bidder  would  give  as  an  equivalent   for  this  full 
rental  value.     It  is  evident  that  if  every  parcel 
of  land   could  be  at   intervals  exposed  to  this 
process,   we    should    ascertain     with    complete 
accuracy  the  full  rental  value  of  all  land.     It  is 
clear  also  that  the  bare  lard  would  then  have  no 
selling  value.     There  would  be  no  initial  outlay 
in  any  case  beyond  the  valuation  of  the  improve- 
ments, because   the  purchaser  could  derive  no 
return    as  rent  by  subletting  it  to  another  on 
exactly  the  same  conditions  as  he  himself  held 
it.     This  represents  the  state  of  things  which  we 
aim  to  bring  about. 

217  Now  at  present  the  land  of  England  and 
Wales  possesses  a  large  selling  value,  partly  on 
account  of   its  desirableness  for  occupation    or 
cultivation,   and    partly   in    anticipation    of  the 
future  needs  of  the  community.     The  latter  is 
the  speculative  element  in  the  selling  value  of 
land,  and   is  admitted  by  all,  except  those  who 
profit  by  it,  to  be  a  very  undesirable  factor,  caus- 
ing much  land  to  be  held  unimproved  and  out  of 
use  until  the  holder  can  succeed  in  extorting  from 
some  one  a  higher  price  for  it  than  it  would 
otherwise  fetch.     The  almost  immediate  effect 
of  the  enactment  we  have  sketched  out  would 
be  to  destroy  entirely  this  speculative  element, 


136      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  transition 
period  might 
extend  over  a 
quarter  o  f  a 
century. 


and  this  would  in  itself  be  a  very  great  gain   to 
the  community. 

Then  the       218  We   must   next   proceed    by   successive 
community  will  steps  to  diminish  this  selling  value,  and  we  shall 

have  appropn-          r  '  .  . 

ated   the   full  know  that  when  we  have  reduced  this  selling 
rental  value  value     approximately   to     zero,    that   we    have 

from  the  land-  11-  •      •          r  i        i         1 1        i 

lords.  succeeded   in  appropriating  from   the  landlords 

the  full  rental  value  which  is  due  to  the  com- 
munity. 

219  If,  then,   the  enactment  we  referred   to 
were  to  contain  a  provision  that  the  land-tax 
should  be  started  at  4  per  cent,  and  then  raised 
each   year  by  an  additional  4   per  cent,  of  the 
rental  value  more  than  in  the  preceding  year, 
we  should,  in  25  years  have  raised  the  land-tax 
to  the  amount  of  the  full   rental   value.     That 
would    spread    the    transition    period    over    a 
quarter  of  a  century,  and  would  allow  time  for 
every  one  concerned  to  become  familiar  with  the 
conditions  of  the  new  system   and  to  learn  to 
accommodate  himself  to  those  conditions  with 
the  minimum  of  loss  and  inconvenience  neces- 
sarily resulting  from  the  change. 

220  It  is  not  to  be  assumed  that  the  addi- 
tional increase  of  rental  value  taken  each  suc- 
ceeding   year   would    be    a    constant    quantity ; 
because  it   would  be  4  per  cent,  of  the   rental 
value,  and  the  rental  value  might  undergo  con- 
siderable change  during  that  quarter  of  a  century. 
It  is  quite  certain,  as  we  have  before  remarked, 
that  at  first  rental  values  would  fall  very  consider- 
ably, because  much  more  land  would  come  into  the 
market,  even  from  the  beginning,  than  at  present, 
and  the  steady  advance  of  the  land  value  tax 
would  tend  to  augment  still  further  this  increase 
of    land    thrown    open    for    occupation.      This 
cause,  then,  would  tend  considerably  to  lighten 


The  tempo- 
rary fall  in 
rental  value 
succeeded  by  a 
beneficial  per- 
manent rise. 


HOW   MAY   CHANGE   BE   EFFECTED?      137 

the  pressure  of  the  tax  on  landlords,  and  enable 
them  more  easily  to  adapt  themselves  to  their 
changed  circumstances.  No  doubt  by  the  time 
the  Act  had  come  into  full  operation,  the  greatly 
increased  prosperity  of  the  community  which 
would  be  the  result  of  the  change  would  have 
generated  a  greatly  increased  demand  for  land 
and  then  rental  values  would  begin  steadily 
and  continuously  to  rise,  surpassing  all  its 
previous  limits ;  but  when  that  period  had 
arrived,  its  rise,  instead  of  being  a  heavy  burden, 
would  have  become  the  source  of  unmixed 
benefit  and  enjoyment  to  the  community. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


Some  com- 
munal wants 
are  even  at 
present  s  u  p  - 
plied  from  the 
land. 


E  s  p  e  c  i  ally 
religious  and 
intellect  ual 
wants. 


THE  PRESERVATION  AND  RE-ADAPTATION  OF 
THE  EXISTING  PROVISIONS  FOR  COM- 
MUNAL WANTS. 

221  IN    the    preceding     chapter    we    (have 
pointed  out  how  the  change  may  be   made  to 
the  new  system,  and  in  consequence,  the  whole 
of  the  rental  value  will  be  collected   by  taxation 
for  the  benefit  of  the  community.     The  large 
incomes  which  landlords  at  present  derive   from 
the  land  without  rendering  any  adequate  return 
to    the    community    therefor,    will   thenceforth 
become  impossible,  and  these  incomes  will  form 
the  fund  from  which  the  communal  wants  will 
in  future  be  supplied.     We  must,  however,  not 
overlook  the  fact  that  there  are  at  present  some 
important  examples  of  communal  wants  being 
supplied  to  the  community  by  means  of  funds 
derived  from  the  land. 

222  From  time  immemorial  the  land  has,  as 
it  were  unconsciously,  been  regarded  as  the  true 
source  of  supply  for  such  wants.     Especially  is 
this  the  case  in  regard  to  those  wants,  whose 
value  and  importance  to  the  community  is  the 
greatest  possible,  when  regarded  in   reference  to 
the  best  and  most  permanent  interests  of  all  its 
members,    but  which    would  nevertheless   have 
been  likely  to  be  much  neglected,  if  the  supply 
had    been    left    to   be    provided   by    individual 
members ;    because    their    claims   would    have 
been    sacrificed    to   those    far    inferior   in    real 
importance,  yet    more  pressing   in  demand  for 


PRESERVATION  OB'   EXISTING  PROVISIONS.      139 

immediate  attention  Such,  especially,  are  those 
highest  of  communal  wants,  which  we  have 
classified  as  the  religious,  and  the  next  in  rank 
and  importance,  the  intellectual. 

223  From    the   very   earliest    times    in    the      The    reason 
history  of    England,  the  produce  of   the   land  ^  [Jj^jf1^ 
and  the   rental  value,  or  a  portion  of  it,   have  the  community 
been   devoted  to  the  maintenance   of  religion,  have  continued 

•  r          11          1  i  1-1  I°r    so    l°ng    to 

and,  in    spite    of  all    the    changes    which  every  be  partly  pro- 
other    institution    in     the    country   has    under-   videud  ,for,  out 
, ,  re  xi  1  of  the  land. 

gone  in  the  course  of  from  a  thousand  to 
fifteen  hundred  years,  it  is  a  striking  fact  that 
it  should  still  be  the  case  to-day  that  rental 
values  are  the  source  on  which  the  community 
depends  very  largely  for  the  supply  of  its 
religious  wants.  But,  as  we  might  perhaps 
be  led  to  anticipate,  this  long-continued  per- 
sistence has  not  been  the  result  of  mere  accident, 
but  has  a  wider  and  deeper  significance. 

224  For    looking    back    now    through    the      The  different 

«  .  A  r          /?  .  1  •   .  objects  in  view 

long   vistas    ot    antiquarian    history,    we     can  Of  the  Crown, 
perceive     that    out    of     all    the    land    in    the  tfae    nobility, 

,1  u-t-  -U1JU       it.  i-    •  and  the  Church 

country,  that  which  was  held    by  the  religious   ;n   seeking  to 

communities,  whether  as  landowners  or  merely  gain  possession 

as    titheowners,    was     that    alone    which    was  c 

so    administered    as   to  show  that  it  was  held 

in    trust    for   the    benefit    of    the    community. 

The   king  held  his  lands  as  his   pleasure    and 

hunting  grounds,  and  as  convenient  rewards  to 

bestow  on  his  faithful  adherents  and  personal 

favourites  ;  the  nobles  held  theirs  for  their  own 

selfish   aggrandizement,    and    as    a    means    of 

support    for    their    retainers    and    dependents. 

The   Church,   alone,   held   her    lands   that    she 

might  be  enabled  to  perform  her  functions  on 

behalf    of    the    poor    and    weak    and    helpless 

members  of  the  community. 


140      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  Church's 

SSRf  the 

community   at 


225  It  was  to  her  that  the  humbler 
^embers  of  the  community  looked  for  corn- 
fort  and  guidance  in  times  of  comparative 
Peace  an<3  quiet  ;  and  to  her  sanctuaries  they 
fled  for  protection  in  days  of 
hours  of  danger,  and  sought 
place  within  the  shadow  of 
the  strife  and  battle  of  life  were  over. 


turbulence  and 
a  final  resting- 
her  walls  when 
She 


stood  forward  in  the  persons  of  Lanfranc  and 
Anselm  and  Becket,  to  curb  and  check  the 
pride  and  overbearing  haughtiness  of  the  Nor- 
man conquerors  in  the  flush  of  their  triumph, 
and  she  was  foremost  in  the  struggle  when 
Stephen  Langton  led  on  the  nobles  to  wring  the 
privileges  of  the  Magna  Charta  for  the  people 
from  the  hand  of  the  despicable  John  ;  and  was 
it  not  also  Wickliffe  that  fought  the  battle  that 
gave  to  the  people  the  Word  of  God  in  the 
mother  tongue  ?  She  it  was,  likewise,  whose 
abbey  gates  were  always  open  to  the  hungry 
and  thirsty  traveller,  who  ate  his  supper  flavoured 
with  a  modicum  of  religion  and  rested  his 
weary  limbs  on  his  hard  and  simple  bed,  and, 
having  risen  before  the  sun  to  mingle  his  orisons 
with  those  of  the  cloistered  monks,  and  partaken 
of  their  frugal  breakfast  then  goes  forth  to 
wend  his  way  rejoicing,  lifting  up  his  heart, 
meanwhile,  in  gratitude  for  his  Maker's  bounty, 
in  accordance  with  what  the  good  fathers  had 
not  omitted  to  admonish  him.  When  the  monas- 
teries had  been  suppressed  by  Henry  VIII.  and 
their  lands  and  tithes  had  been  distributed 
among  the  hungry  landlords,  whose  insatiable 
greed  for  land  was  increased  by  every  addition 
to  their  already  overgrown  domains,  it  was  not 
long  before  the  poorer  members  of  the  commu- 
nity discovered  that  they  had  lost  a  good  friend 


PRESERVATION  OF   EXISTING  PROVISIONS.      141 

through  the  impoverishment  of  the  despoiled 
Ch'irch.  The  gates  of  the  nobleman's  mansion 
in  his  lordly  park  did  not  stand  ajar  to  welcome 
the  hungry  and  weary  as  the  abbey  gates  had 
been  wont  to  do.  And  when  the  landlords 
about  the  same  time  were  appropriating  to 
themselves  the  wastes  and  common  lands  which 
had  belonged  of  right  to  the  community,  it  was 
Latimer  who  stood  up  in  the  Church  to 
denounce  them  before  the  King  as  "  enclosers, 
graziers  and  rent-raisers."  We  hear  Ridley's 
voice  also  pleading  in  earnest  accents  in  the 
ears  of  the  young  King  Edward  in  behalf  of 
the  education  of  the  poor  boys  who  were  to 
continue  for  centuries  afterwards  to  be  decked 
in  the  now  familiar  Blue-coats  and  yellow 
stockings  of  Christ's  Hospital. 

226  Was  it  not  the  Church  that  within  living  inHt£er 
memory  laboured  hard  for   nearly  sixty  years  tionofthepoor. 
both   by    her   words   and    by   her   example   to  ^ert.    Present 

.        .       J-  «         o  1-1  i  f  functions     and 

obtain   from  the   State   that    priceless  boon  of  ministrations 
education  for  the  poor,  the  value  of  which  never  to-day- 
can  be  sufficiently  appreciated  ?     And  is  it  not 
the  Church  that  even  to-day,  in  spite  of  all  her 
imperfections,  which  are   great,  and  her  short- 
comings not  a    few,  is,  nevertheless,  the  truest 
friend  of  the  poor,  in  times  of  poverty  and  dis- 
tress, in  sickness  and  suffering  and  bereavement, 
bringing  sympathy  and  aid  and  consolation  in 
the  garb  of  holy  religion  ? 

227  If  the  question  were  to  be  asked  to-day    .The  obiiga- 
which  out  of  all  the  different  classes  of  land-  community  to 
owners    that    now    exist    or    have    existed    in  remember  i  t  s 


England,  have  in  their  conduct  and  behaviour  ,.^1  T°ithe- 


(whether  consciously  or  unconsciously  so  acting,  owner,  the 
matters  not)  shewn  that  they  regarded  them- 
selves as  trustees  of  their  land  on  behalf  of  the 


142      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

community  as  the  real  beneficiary,  there  could 
be,  we  think,  but  one  candid  answer  —  The 
Church.  That  being  so,  it  would  ill  become  the 
community  to  forget  this  in  any  changes  which 
it  may  make  in  reference  to  the  tenure  of  land, 
or  to  proceed  so  unwarily  as  that  it  should  un- 
wittingly cripple  a  long-tried  friend  of  fifteen 
hundred  years'  standing,  who  has  understood 
and  practised  her  duties  to  the  community  she 
was  commissioned  to  serve,  through  ages  long 
gone  by,  when,  if  she  had  forgotten  or  forsaken 
her  duty  to  do  so,  she  might  have  remained 
hardened  and  unmoved  by  the  tears  and  re- 
proaches of  the  poorer  and  humbler  members 
of  the  community,  then  too  helpless  to  resent 
neglect  and  ill-treatment,  if  she  had  been  so 
minded  ;  and  when  she  might  have  pleaded  also 
in  excuse  for  such  departure  from  duty  the 
evil  example  of  other  more  powerful  neighbours 
around  her,  who  made  no  scruple  whatever  to 
hold  their  lands  solely  for  their  own  personal 
pleasure  and  profit,  and  were  entirely  indifferent 
to  the  welfare  of  the  community  beneath  them. 
Surely  when  the  community  has  begun  to 
realize  better  from  whose  bounty  it  receives  its 
daily  bread,  and  from  whom  it  received  its  title 
to  the  use  of  the  earth  during  the  period  of  its 
stay  here  upon  it,  it  will  "  not  grudgingly  or  of 
necessity,"  but  with  a  willing  alacrity,  like  the 
Jews  in  their  best  days  of  old,  bring  its  tithe  into 
the  House  of  God  to  lay  it  as  a  humble  tribute 
to  the  glory  and  praise  of  the  real  Titheowner, 
the  Eternal  Creator,  who  in  perpetual  succession 
gives  this  earth  to  the  children  of  men. 
Thepreserva-  228  Somewhat  similar  is  the  position  of  the 
the*  e'xTsTing  community  in  reference  to  some  of  its  intellec- 
maintenance  tual  and  material  wants.  The  endowments  of 


PRESERVATION  OF    EXISTING  PROVISIONS.      143 


gram mar-schools,  and  colleges  and  universities  for  the  supply 

,  .   ,      c   ,        ,  .  of    intellectual 

largely  consist  of  land,  and  the  same  is  true,  to  needs. 
a  small  extent,  perhaps,  of  hospitals  and  other 
charitable  institutions  for  the  supply  of  physical 
needs.  When  the  new  system  of  tenure  is 
introduced,  provision  must  be  made  so  that 
the  sources  of  supply  for  these  communal  wants 
be  not  destroyed.  For  it  is  manifest  that  if  the 
community  took  the  rental  values  of  the  lands 
which  now  form  the  endowments  to  provide  for 
these  intellectual  and  material  wants  of  the 
community,  it  would  either  have  to  re-provide 
them  immediately  from  the  same  or  some  other 
source  or  else  it  would  suffer  the  loss  of  their 
benefits. 

229  The  wise   and    true  conservative  policy 


The  wise  and 


is  not  to  destroy  such  provisions  as  now  exist  policy  V' 
for  communal  wants,  but  to  preserve  and  re- 
adapt  them  if  necessary,  the  more  efficiently 
to  perform  these  services  and  afterwards  more  at 
leisure  to  proceed  to  amplify  and  extend  them 
so  as  to  render  them  adequate  for  the  needs  of 
the  future.  We  can  then,  in  the  meantime,  turn 
our  attention  to  provide  for  those  other  com- 
munal wants  for  which,  at  present,  no  provision 
at  all  exists. 

230  It    would    be    advisable,    therefore,     to      The    clause 
insert  two  clauses  in  the  enactment  for  resuming  in  th?  Act,  ex- 

r      i        i  i  i        emptmg     sites 

possession  of   the  land  by  the  community,  the  of  public  insti- 
first    exempting  entirely  from  the  taxation  on   tutlons- 
land  values  the  sites  of  all  public  institutions,  for 
example : — 

(a.)  All     churches,    chapels,   and    Sunday 
Schools  of  every  religious  denomination 

(b.)  all  public  schools,  colleges  and  univer- 
sity buildings 


144      T1IE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  clause 
providing  f o  r 
the  continu- 
ance of  their  in- 
comes from  the 
rental  values 
collected. 


[Modifications 
in  their  work- 
ing in  accord- 
ance with  the 
p  r  i  n  c  i  pie  of 
equal  rights. 


A  s  regards 
places  of  wor- 
ship and  the 
duties  of  the 
ministers. 


(c.)  all  public  libraries,  reading  rooms, 
lecture  and  concert  halls,  museums,  gymna- 
siums and  baths 

(d.)  all  hospitals  and  other  charitable  in- 
stitutions. 

231  In  the  second  clause  it  should   be   pro- 
vided that  in  every  case  where  a  church,  chapel, 
school,    college,   university,    hospital    or    other 
public  institution  at  present  derives  any  part  of 
its   income    from  the   rental   value   of   land,  in 
such  case,  the  said  rental  value  shall  be  collected 
by     the     public      assessors,    and     transmitted 
annually    to    the    treasurer  of    each    such    in- 
stitution. 

232  With    reference    to  this  second  clause, 
it  would  be  necessary  or  advisable  to  stipulate 
that  in  every  case  in  which  any  aforementioned 
public   institution  shall  accept  and  receive   any 
apportionment  from  the  rental  values  of  land  to 
assist  it  in    performing  its    usual    functions    on 
behalf  of  the  community,  the  community  should 
appoint  a  certain  number  of  trustees  as  members 
of  the  board   of    management   or    otherwise   a 
Visitor,  who  should  be  required  to  see  that  every 
member  of  the   community  was   permitted   to 
enjoy  an   equal    right  to  share  in  the  benefits 
provided  by  that  institution  ;  but  should  not  be 
expected  to    interfere  in  any  other  way  in  its 
regulation  or  management. 

233  The  Visitor,  for  instance,  would  require 
every  church  or  chapel  aided  by  the  community 
funds    to   be  free   and    open  without    payment 
of  pew  rents    or    appropriation    of   seats,   and 
should,  if  practicable,  require  that  the  buildings  be 
kept  open  during  the  day,  for  the  benefit  of  weary 
passers-by  and  for  purposes  of  rest  and  medita- 
tion  and    private  devotion,  and    that    religious 


PRESERVATION  OF   EXISTING  PROVISIONS.      145 

services  should  be  performed  daily,  or  as  often 
as  should  be  deemed  fit,  and  that  the  ministers 
should  discharge  the  duty  of  visiting  the  sick 
and  relieving  the  destitute  of  their  congregations 
or  within  their  parochial  limits. 

234:  Likewise,    in    the    case    of  all    schools,      As   regards 
colleges   and    universities   receiving   apportion-  fegeTand  CUni- 
ments    from    the    common    funds,   the    tuition  vel-sities.    AS 
should  be  entirely  free  and  open  to   every  one  taf^and  similar 
without  distinction  of  birth,  age,  sex,  or  creed,  institutions. 
who  was  qualified  to  benefit  by  the  instruction, 
but  not  otherwise,  the  vacancies  being,  in  fact, 
periodically  thrown  open  to  competition. 

In  the  case  of  hospitals  and  other  similar 
institutions,  their  advantages  should  be  open  to 
the  rich  equally  with  the  poor. 

235  No  class  distinctions  in  favour  either  of    .  No  class  dis- 
rich  or  poor  could  be  permissible  in  a  public  niiss'lbie!  PC 
institution  of  any  kind  that  accepts  an   appor- 
tionment   from  the   communal  funds  of  rental 

values.  For  every  individual  in  the  community 
has  an  equal  right  to  a  share  in  the  rental 
value  of  land,  by  virtue  of  his  God-given  birth- 
right to  the  use  of  the  land,  and  therefore  he 
has  also  an  equal  right  to  every  privilege  ob- 
tained through  the  means  of  that  rental  value. 

236  Surely  that  would  be  in  itself  a  great      The  immoral 
gain  to  the  community  if  any  means  could  be  judgments 
found  to  break  down  the  hateful  and  demoraliz-  arising    from 
ing  distinctions  of  class  in  England  which  are 

more  rife  than  distinctions  of  caste  in  Bengal, 
and  are  equally  absurd  and  far  more  inexcusable 
and  reprehensible.  Do  they  not,  on  the  one 
side,  tempt  many  to  look  down  in  a  Pharisaic 
spirit  of  pride  and  superiority  upon  great 
numbers  of  individuals,  who,  in  industry,  energy, 
perseverance,  capability  and  manly  virtue  of 

10 


146      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

every  kind  are  immensely  the  superiors  of  those 
who  thus  despise  them  or  mistakenly  regard 
them  as  inferiors  ?  Do  they  not,  on  the  other 
hand,  beget  in  these  latter  sometimes  a  foolish 
envy  and  bitter  hatred  of  those  who  have  need 
more  often  to  be  pitied,  because  the  controlling 
influence  of  their  riches  has  disabled  them  from 
qualifying  themselves  to  be  useful  and  self- 
dependent  members  of  the  community,  render- 
ing them  incapable  from  their  birth  onwards  of 
freeing  themselves  from  the  morally  debilitating 
atmosphere  of  their  environment  and  condemn- 
ing them  hopelessly  to  the  necessity  of  occupy- 
ing ever  the  position  of  mere  parasites  upon 
their  fellows. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


cultivators  and 
occupiers.  An 
end  put  to 
speculation  in 
land. 


BENEFICIAL     EFFECTS    TO    BE    PRODUCED     BY 
THE   CHANGE. 

237  Having  now  described  the  proposed  new      The  benefits 
system  of  land  tenure,  and  the  way  in  which  the   j.°  oCmexpetChef. 
change  may  be  conveniently  made,  it  is  in  order  change. 

to  consider  more  in  detail  what  benefits  may  be 
expected  to  follow  on  the  result. 

Section  i. 

238  (i.)  Opening  up  of  the  land  to  cultivators      Opening  up 
and  occupiers.  of  the  land  to 

The  first  result  of  the  introduction  of  the 
new  system  would  be  to  put  an  end  to  specula- 
tion in  land,  because  no  person  would  be  willing 
to  pay  money  in  expectation  of  securing  for 
himself  the  benefit  of  a  rise  in  the  value  of  land 
in  the  future,  when  once  the  community  had 
declared  its  intention  of  appropriating  the  full 
rental  value  for  itself.  Consequently,  no  one 
would  wish  to  purchase  land  until  he  was  ready 
and  desirous  of  using  it.  The  selling  value  of 
land  would  thus  fall  to  its  natural  level,  and  the 
fall  from  its  artificially  enhanced  height  due  to 
the  influence  of  speculation  would  be  the  first 
step  towards  freeing  the  land,  and  bringing  it 
nearer  to  the  reach  of  the  cultivator  and 
occupier. 

10* 


148      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


La  n  d  r  e - 
maining  u  n  - 
used  would  be 
surrendered. 


Land  could 
then  be  obtain- 
ed without 
capital,  except 
for  purchase  or 
hire  of  i  m- 
provements 


An  industri- 
ous man  needs 
for  his  support 
only  to  have 
access  to  land. 


239  When  in  due  course  the   tax  on    land 
value  was  rising  up  to  the  full  rental  value,  the 
selling  value  would  be  progressively  diminishing, 
and  landholders  would,  therefore,  hasten  to  find 
purchasers  for  all  their  land  which  they  did   not 
intend    to    cultivate   or  occupy  for   themselves. 
Otherwise  the  tax  would  soon  eat  up  the  re- 
mainder of  this  selling  value  and  more.     By  the 
time  the  system  had  come  into  full  operation 
(i.e.,  as   we  have  suggested  in  a  quarter  of   a 
century),  the  operation  of  the  tax  would  have 
compelled  every  landholder  to  relinquish  all  the 
land  except  that  which  he  intended  himself  to 
cultivate. 

240  After  the  selling  value  was  wholly  de- 
stroyed,   anyone   wishing   to    use    land    would 
obtain    it  without   having   to   sink    any  of   his 
capital  in  buying  the  land.     He  would  merely 
have  to  buy  or  hire  the  improvements  ;  and  for 
this  no  more  capital  or  credit  would  usually  be 
needed  than   any  honest  labourer  could   easily 
obtain.     Further  than  this,  there  would  be  some 
land   which  would  have  improvements  of   but 
little  value,  although  having  a  fair  rental  value  ; 
and  it  is  probable  that  in  the  remoter  districts 
there  would  be  a  considerable  amount  of  un- 
improved land  which  would  have  little  or  no 
rental   value,  and,   therefore,  almost   absolutely 
free  to  anyone  who  chose  to  occupy  it.     This 
would  be  then  the  most  complete  and   perfect 
opening  up  of  the  land  that  could  be  possible, 
and    its    influence    on    the    condition    of    the 
labourers  would   be  ultimately  more  beneficial 
than  might  at  first  sight  be  evident. 

241  For  when  once   the  initial  difficulties  of 
making  a  start  have  been   surmounted,  any  in- 
dustrious  man    may   support   himself    and    his 


BENEFICIAL   EFFECTS. 


149 


family  by  direct  application  of  his  labour  to 
land.  He  can  produce  everything  he  needs  for 
his  own  wants  without  much  need  of  resorting 
to  exchanges,  except,  perhaps,  for  his  clothes 
and  a  few  tools.  He  can  cultivate  his  own  patch 
of  ground,  grow  his  own  vegetables,  tend  his 
own  orchard,  feed  his  pigs,  poultry,  geese,  and 
sheep,  pasture  his  horse  and  cow  ;  he  can  catch 
fish  for  himself  in  the  river,  shoot  his  own 
rabbits  and  game,  build  and  thatch  his  own 
hut,  grind  his  own  corn  ;  and  his  wife  likewise 
can  attend  to  her  dairy,  and  bring  up  their 
children  in  independence  and  plenty,  if  not  in 
much  of  refinement  and  luxury.  An  occasional 
visit  two  or  three  times  a  year  to  the  nearest 
town  would  enable  him  to  supply  those  needs 
which  he  most  lacked,  and  if  his  condition  were 
not  in  every  respect  the  best  that  could  be 
imagined,  yet  in  comparison  with  the  circum- 
stances of  many  in  our  large  towns  now,  it 
would  be  by  no  means  unenviable. 

242  The  much  derided  theory  of  "  three 
acres  "  with  or  without  a  cow,  is  highly  divert- 
ing to  many,  because  it  seems  to  them  an  ab- 
surdity and  a  novelty  ;  but  our  historical  enquiry 
has  shewn  us  that  its  introduction  would  be  no 
novelty  in  England,  and  it  is  no  longer  an  ab- 
surdity when  we  take  pains  to  examine  it.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  an  expression  of  a  great  practical 
truth.  There  are  and  have  been  whole  popula- 
tions in  different  ages  and  countries  that  have 
maintained  themselves  in  comfort  by  agriculture, 
with  little  or  no  attempts  at  exchanges  carried 
on  with  the  outer  world,  and  in  ignorant  defiance 
of  all  attempted  "  corners  "  in  wheat  and  of  the 
fluctuations  of  the  meat  market.  The  experi- 
ence of  every  settler  who  penetrates  into  the 


The  theory 
of  "three 
acres"  with  or 
without  a  cow. 


150      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  case 
the  miner. 


backwoods  of  Canada,  or  settles  on  the  prairie 
in   the   far  West,   proves    the    possibility   and 
practicability  of   a  sufficient  proportion  of   the 
population,  by  betaking  themselves  to  agricul- 
ture  and   obtaining   their   livelihood   by  direct 
application  of  their  labour  to  land,  to  relieve  the 
glut  of  the  labour  market  in  our  large  cities  and 
centres  of  population.     The  French  system  of 
"  petite  culture  "  introduced  into  England  would 
enable  our  own  population  to  supply  us  with 
eggs,  chickens,  and  turkeys,  butter  and  cheese, 
pork  and  bacon,  fruit,  &c.,  for  which  we  now  pay 
our  neighbours  many  millions  of  pounds  a  year, 
of       243  The  same  would  likewise  be  substantially 
true  of  the  miner  as  of  the  cultivator,  except 
that  he  would  be  more  dependent  on  his  ability 
to  get  his  coal  and  iron  to  market,  in  order  that 
he  might  effect  an  exchange  for  food  products. 
Sites  for       244  In  the  towns  likewise  it  would   become 
cottages"  e and   Possible  for  every  industrious  workman  either  to 
for  shops  and  buy  a  house  or  obtain  a  lot  whereon  to  erect  his 
own  little  cottage,  without  having  to  invest  any 
part   of  his  savings  in  buying  the  ground  on 
which  it  can   stand.     Similarly  the  shopkeeper 
or  manufacturer  may  be  able   to  purchase  his 
store  or  his  factory,  and  thus  need  not  be  afraid, 
as  he  often  now  is,  that  on  the  expiration  of  his 
lease,  he  must  either  pay  a  heavy  sum  for  its 
renewal,  or  forfeit  the  goodwill  of  the  business 
which  he  has  been  striving  for  years  to  build  up. 
245    One  other  effect  of  the  change  would 
be  that  land  could   no  longer  be  mortgaged  or 
held  as  security  for  debt,  after  its  selling  value 
had    been    destroyed.      This   would    necessitate 
some  shifting  of  securities   on    the  passage   of 
the   enactment,   which   would  be    a  little  tem- 
porary inconvenience,  but  the  permanent  result 


factories. 


No     more 

mortgages    on 
land. 


BENEFICIAL   EFFECTS. 


would  be  beneficial.  It  is  desirable  as  far  as 
possible  that  he  who  cultivates  the  land  should 
be  entitled  to  the  whole  of  what  his  labour  pro- 
duces from  the  land.  Then  he  is  likely  to  put 
it  to  its  best  use.  There  would,  of  course,  be 
no  obstacle  to  a  mortgage  on  the  improvements, 
if  they  were  more  than  a  sufficient  security  for 
the  payment  of  the  rental  value. 

Section  ii. 

The  elimination  and  conversion  of  undesirable 
elements  in  the  three  classes  of  Landholders, 
Capitalists,  and  Labourers. 

246  The  second  great  result  which  would 
follow  from  the  introduction  of  the  new  system 
of  tenure  may  be  described  as  above.  There  is 
in  each  class  an  element  which  exercises  a  pre- 
judicial effect  on  the  welfare  of  the  other 
members  of  that  or  another  class,  and  which 
therefore  should  have  its  influence  either  elimi- 
nated or  converted  into  a  more  beneficial 
channel. 


247 


(i.)  LANDHOLDERS. 
As  to  the  class  of  Landholders,  we  have 


The  elimina- 
tion of  undesir- 
able elements 
in  different 
classes  of  the 
community. 


Landholders 


already  agreed  that  it  is  desirable  in  the  future 

to  recognise  the  fact   that  the  Creator   Himself  ment-owners. 

is  the  only  Landowner,  and  the  State  the  only 

Landholder,  the    latter  combining  in    itself  by  abrogated. 

aggregation  and  cumulation   the  birth-rights  of 

all  the  individual  members  of  the  community  in 

the  land.     There   can    therefore   be  no   further 

room  in  this  class  for  those  who  have  hitherto 

styled   themselves  "  landowners,"   and    as   such 

they  must  kindly  consent  to  consider  themselves 

as  being  in    the  future  effaced  and  suppressed. 

As   owners,  however,   of  the    improvements    at 


152      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  identity 
of  interests 
between  the 
real  capitalists 
and  the  labour- 
ers. 


The  mono- 
polistic capital- 
i  s  t  s,  owing 
their  existence 


present  existing  on  the  land  they  will  rightly 
be  called  "  improvement-owners,"  but  then  they 
will  be  classed  with  capitalists,  not  as  at  present 
in  a  separate  class.  If  then  they  will  politely 
take  one  step  down,  they  will  henceforth  occupy 
their  rightful  place  in  the  community.  The 
existing  law  of  real  property  will  in  the  future 
be  little  needed,  and  we  may  in  fact  consider  it 
to  be  practically  abrogated  or  repealed,  or  other- 
wise allowed  to  fall  into  desuetude,  and  in  that 
case,  houses  and  other  improvements  may  be 
dealt  with  as  if  they  were  classed,  as  economists 
tell  us  they  ought  to  be,  with  all  other  personal 
property,  under  the  general  title  of  "wealth," 
that  is  products  of  labour  applied  to  land. 

(2.)  CAPITALISTS. 

248  When  we  come  in  the  next  place   to 
the  class  of  Capitalists,   we   find   among   them 
a  certain   section  of  a  very  objectionable  cha- 
racter.    The  interests  of  the  true  capitalist  are 
really  identical  with  the  interests  of  the  labourers, 
and  there  should    not   therefore   be   any   anta- 
gonism between  them,     His  prosperity  rises  and 
falls  with  theirs,  so  that  there  should  be  under 
normal     and    natural     conditions    the    closest 
union  and  harmony  between  them.     The  reason 
why  the  true  capitalist's  interests  seem  so  often 
now  to  clash  with  those  of  the  labourer's,  is  be- 
cause the  conditions  under  which  they  combine 
in  the   work    of   production    are  not  at    present 
normal,  but  irregular  and   artificial,  as  we  shall 
see  presently  when  we  come  to  treat  of  the  class 
of  Labourers. 

249  There  is,  however,  a  class  of  capitalists, 
who  are  besides,  monopolists,  possessing  the  right 
to  tax  the  community  in  the  same  manner  as 


BENEFICIAL    EFFECTS. 


landholders  have  hitherto  taxed  it.  The  State  to  ^  umvin- 
has  been  wont  usually  to  consider  that  it  had  stateTo  under- 
sufficient  scope  for  all  its  energies  in  the  exer-  take  its  proper 

r    •  :  •  1-          r         .•  i    communal 

cise  of  its  repressive  or  police  functions  ;  and  functjons. 
either  from  what  in  an  individual  we  should 
characterize  as  laziness,  has  shirked  any  duties 
on  behalf  of  the  better  ordered  portion  of  the 
community  beyond  that  of  protecting  it  from 
its  vicious  and  ill-regulated  members  ;  or  other- 
wise it  has  shewn  what  we  might  perhaps  be 
tempted  to  regard  as  commendable  modesty  or 
diffidence  in  acknowledging  itself  unfit  or  un- 
equal to  the  discharge  of  any  other  than  repres- 
sive functions.  Almost  the  only  cases  in  which 
it  has  reluctantly  been  persuaded  to  abandon  this 
attitude  are  those  in  the  matter  of  the  coinage 
and  the  post  office.  Under  this  latter  depart- 
ment it  has  with  much  apparent  coyness  been 
persuaded  to  undertake  in  addition  to  the 
delivery  of  letters  and  newspapers,  the  sending 
of  telegrams,  of  parcels,  of  money  orders,  and 
the  management  of  savings  banks,  insurance 
and  annuities.  It  scarcely  seems,  however,  to 
have  yet  gained  sufficient  confidence  (notwith- 
standing the  many  encomiums  bestowed  upon 
it  for  its  past  management  of  those  matters)  to 
be  willing  to  be  induced  to  undertake  any 
function  which  it  cannot  in  some  way  include 
within  its  post-office  department.  Consequently 
when  any  hint  is  thrown  out  as  to  government 
management  of  railroads,  there  is  no  reply  but 
a  deprecatory  shake  of  the  head. 

250  The  State  has  in  many  instances  been      Their  modus 
moved  therefore    in    preference,    to    give    fran-  °Perandl- 
chises    and    privileges    to    a    number    of     in- 
dividuals   calling    themselves     a     corporation, 
who  were  not  afflicted  with  the    modesty  which 


154      TIIE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  local 
govern  m  e  n  t  s 
imitate  the 
f  aul  ts  and 
weakness  o  f 
the  n  a  t  i  o  nal 
government. 


The  necessity 
lor  a  change  of 
policy. 


sits  so  becomingly  on  the  face  of  the  National 
Government,  and  who  were  quite  ready  to 
undertake  to  do  for  the  community  what  the 
State  felt  itself  afraid  to  undertake.  Of 
course  this  corporation  that  declines  to  burden 
itself  with  too  much  modesty  cannot  be  ex- 
pected either  to  be  swayed  too  much  by 
motives  of  pure  philanthropy  towards  the 
community  over  which  the  recreant  govern- 
ment grants  it  very  considerable  powers,  and 
allows  it  to  tax  it  sometimes  very  freely  in 
return  for  the  services  which  it  renders.  So 
in  order  that  the  profits  thus  squeezed  out  of 
the  community  may  not  seem  to  be  in  ex- 
cess of  the  usual  rate  of  interest  in  other 
investments  the  stock  of  the  company  is 
treated  much  as  the  milkman  treats  the  pro- 
duce of  his  cow  when  he  considers  his  milk 
may  perhaps  be  a  little  too  good  for  his  cus- 
tomers. There  is  a  "cow  with  an  iron  tail," 
to  which  the  corporation  as  well  as  the  milk- 
man has  recourse  for  "  water"  whenever  the 
corporation  stock  needs  to  be  diluted. 

251  We  cannot  then  wonder  that  when  the 
State  has    taken  up  such   an    attitude  towards 
the    whole    community,    those    who    have    the 
management  of  the  affairs  of  the  local  commu- 
nities in  towns  and  counties  take  up  a  similar 
position,  and    allow  corporations  to  be  formed 
to  supply  the  inhabitants  with  street  railroads, 
with  water,  gas  and    other    things,    and  in   like 
manner  permit  these  local  corporations  to  tax 
the  local  communities  as  the  larger  corporations 
do  who  perform  the  national  functions. 

252  Now  this  we  think  is  wrong  in  principle 
for  it  is  needless  thus  to   allow  the  community 
to  be  taxed.     It  involves,  besides,  the  giving  of 


BENEFICIAL   EFFECTS.  155 

franchises  and  privileges  to  some  and  not  to 
others,  and  thus  is  an  infringement  of  the  equal 
rights  of  others.  In  order  to  render  it  justifi- 
able it  would  be  necessary  to  take  thoroughly 
effective  precautions  that  the  corporations  re- 
ceived in  addition  to  the  interest  at  the  current 
rate  on  the  capital  actually  invested  in  the 
construction  of  the  necessary  works,  nothing 
beyond  what  would  be  a  fair  remuneration  as 
wages  of  superintendence,  and  entirely  exclude 
all  opportunity  for  monopoly  profits. 

To  secure  this,  however,  would  probably  be 
quite  as  difficult  and  involve  as  much  trouble 
as  for  the  community  to  undertake  the  manage- 
ment of  this  function  for  themselves.  Where- 
fore they  had  best  adopt  this  latter  policy  in 
future ;  for  if  the  community  should  be 
compelled  to  borrow  for  the  purpose,  it  could 
always  borrow  at  least  as  cheaply  as  the  current 
rate  of  interest  which  it  would  have  to  pay  a 
corporation  ;  and  if  the  community  had  funds 
of  its  own  in  hand,  it  would,  by  thus  investing 
them,  retain  for  itself  the  beneficial  interest 
accruing  from  that  investment.  Just  as  the 
community  have  learned  to  undertake  in  recent 
years  the  management  of  schools  and  public 
libraries,  so  they  may  soon  undertake  every 
other  communal  function  which  cannot  be  per- 
formed as  well  by  individuals  acting  for  them- 
selves alone. 

253  The    class   of    monopolistic   capitalists      The   extinc- 
should  therefore  be  entirely  eliminated  from  the   p0ijstic  "prhi- 
communal  body,  having  no  rightful  place  in  any  leses- 
one   of    the   three  classes   we   are   considering. 
They   are    one    cause   of    that    divergence    of 
interests    between     capitalists      and     labourers 
which  must  prevent  the  existence  of  harmony 


156      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

and  good  feeling  even  after  the  new  system  of 
land  tenure  has  removed  the  other  causes  which 
at  present  also  tend  to  prevent  and  destroy  it. 
The  capitalists  who  are  entrusted  with  monopo- 
listic functions  must  either  be  prevented  by 
some  effectual  means  from  obtaining  more  than 
the  current  rate  of  interest  on  their  real  capital 
invested,  or  else  the  community  itself  by  under- 
taking the  duties  and  functions  of  this  monopoly 
must  compel  those  individuals  to  become  true 
capitalists  only,  by  putting  their  capital  into 
other  investments  where  these  opportunities  of 
taxing  the  community  do  not  exist. 

(3.)  LABOURERS. 
The  respon-       254.  \^e  come  now  to  the  third  and  last  of 

sibihty   of    the    ,,  ,  .  ... 

landlords    for  the  classes  into  which  economists  are  wont  to 
the    existence  divide    the    community,    viz.,     the     Labourers. 

of  the  "  unem-     A  ,  r      ,    '  i-ij-^i.- 

ployed."  Among  them  we  find  an  exceedingly  disturbing 

and  undesirable  element,  "  the  Unemployed." 
Under  our  present  system  of  land  tenure  it  is 
inevitable  that  as  material  progress  advances, 
such  a  class  should  be  generated  and  differen- 
tiated as  a  constantly  existing  element  amongst 
the  labourers.  It  is  developed  by  the  action  of 
the  landholders  and  made  use  of  by  the 
capitalists,  much  to  the  disadvantage  and  injury 
of  the  labourers.  The  landholder  is  primarily 
responsible  for  the  existence  of  the  unemployed 
because  he  has  been  permitted  to  hold  in  his 
hands  the  keys  to  the  natural  opportunities  on 
which  man  must  exert  his  labour,  and  if  he 
virtually  locks  up  the  land  from  the  labourer 
there  must  either  arise  an  army  of  unemployed 
men,  or  that  portion  of  the  community  must  die 
off  in  consequence  of  that  exclusion. 

We  have  already  shown  how  the  new  system 


BENEFICIAL   EFFECTS.  157 

would  operate  in  freeing  the  land  for  the  labourer 
and  thus  unlock  the  doors  which  at  present  bar 
him  out.  The  responsibility  of  the  present 
landholder  for  the  existence  of  the  unemployed 
would  thus  be  removed  from  him  in  future. 

255  The   capitalist,    on  the    other    hand,   is      The  capitat- 
not  responsible  for  the  existence  of  the  unem-  j^^  ^co^| 
ployed  and  starving  man  ;  but  he  must  be  held  advantage    of 
equally  blameworthy  in  that  he  takes  advantage  hl^   .existen.ce' 
of  his  existence,  and  uses  him  as  an   instrument  his  own  profits! 
wherewith    to    depress   the   condition    of     the 
employed  workman,  and  wrongfully  wring  from 

him  a  part  of  his  proper  wages.  How  does  he 
do  this  ?  This  is  brought  about  as  a  result  of 
the  competition  of  capitalists  among  themselves 
in  seeking  for  larger  profits,  and  by  the  compe- 
tition of  the  unemployed  with  the  employed  in 
the  desire  for  remunerative  work  and  wages. 

256  The   competition  of   capitalists    among      The  lawful 
themselves  for  the   sake  of  profit,  if  carried  on  lompefitlon 
by  legitimate  means,  is    beneficial  to  the  com-  amongst  Capi- 
munity,  and  in    every  way  to    be    encouraged.  talists- 
Any  attempt  on  the  part  of  capitalists  to  evade 
competition  among  themselves  by  the  formation 

of  trusts,  pools,  rings,  and  other  combinations  to 
regulate  prices  by  restricting  "output"  or  "corner- 
ing "  the  market  supply,  and  in  other  ways 
interfering  with  the  automatic  regulation  of  the 
law  of  supply  and  demand,  deserves  to  be  de- 
terminedly opposed  and  punished  by  the  com- 
munity ;  being,  in  fact,  equivalent  to  the  illegal 
creation  of  a  corporation  and  the  establishment 
of  a  monopoly  for  the  purpose  of  taxing  the 
community  beyond  the  natural  and  legitimate 
rate  of  interest  on  their  investments.  Capitalists 
should  be  compelled  to  rely  for  their  profits 
on  the  quality  of  their  goods,  and  on  the 


158      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  due  re- 
ward of  the 
labourer  is  the 
full  value  of 
what  he  pro- 
duces. 


The  upper 
and  the  ower 
limits  of  the 
labourer's 
reward. 


benefits  of  the  service  which  they  do  in  behalf 
of  the  community  in  effecting  exchanges  of 
wealth. 

257  When,  however,  competition  by  lawful 
methods  becomes  keen  among  them,  and  they 
find  it  difficult  to  obtain  a  sufficient  return  for 
their     investments    in     this      legitimate      and 
laudable  way,  they  are  driven  to  have  recourse 
to  the  expedient  of  diminishing  the  labourer's 
reward  for  his  toil.      The  due  reward  of  every 
labourer  is  the  full  value  of  what  he  produces. 
That  is  a  deduction  from  his  natural  right   to 
the    fruit    of   his  exertions.       If    the    capitalist 
succeeds  in  taking  from  him  any  portion  of  the 
value  which  his  labour  produces,   that  is  an   in- 
vasion and  infringement  of  his  natural  rights. 
The   capitalist's    investment   produces   its   own 
return  quite  apart  from  that  of  the  labourer,  and 
therefore  each  is  justly  entitled  to  his  own  share, 
and  no  more,  no  less.     The  aid  which  capital 
gives  to  production  is  in  general  similar  to  that 
which  exceptional  skill  or  industry  gives  to  the 
workman,  and  just  as  skill  would  find  its  reward 
in   an  increased  production  of  the  skilled  over 
the  unskilled  workman,  so  capital  likewise  pro- 
duces a  reward  for  itself  which  the    capitalist 
may   rightly  appropriate   without  trenching   in 
any  degree  upon  the  reward  which  could  be  ob- 
tained without  its  investment. 

258  We  can  readily  see  that  the  full  value  of 
his  labour  also  marks   the   limit   of   what    the 
labourer    can     permanently     exact     from     the 
capitalist  who  employs  him,  because  unless  the 
latter  can  obtain  the  same  return  as  by  investing 
in  other  ways,  he  would  soon  withdraw  his  in- 
vestment and   place  it  in  some  other  business, 
which  would  give  him  the  usual  return.     And  as 


BENEFICIAL   EFFECTS. 


159 


the  full  value  of  his  labour  marks  the  upper 
limit  of  the  labourer's  reward,  so  there  is  also  a 
lower  limit  in  the  bare  living  which  he  must 
have  in  order  to  sustain  the  life  and  health 
needful  for  him  to  continue  his  employment. 

259  But  between  these  two  limits,  the  upper 
and  the  lower,  the  full  value  of  his  labour,  and 
the  bare  living,  there  is  room  for  much  variation 
in  the  reward  that  the  labourer  is  able  to  secure 
from  his  employer.      Herein,  then,  lies  the  in- 
justice  of   the    employer's   behaviour    towards 
the  employe,  for  of  course  the  amount  of  the 
difference  between  the  reward  which  the  latter 
receives,  and  the  full  value  of  his  labour  repre- 
sents  exactly   the    amount   out  of    which    the 
employe  is  defrauded  by  the  employer. 

260  When,    then,    we   come   to   enquire   by 
what  instrument    and   method  is  the  employer 
enabled  to  effect  this  ?  the  answer  is,  His  instru- 
ment  is   the    army   of    the    unemployed,    and 
his  method  may  be  explained  as  follows  : 

261  The  labourer  is  impelled  to  competition 
by  a  far  keener  motive  than  that  which  stimu- 
lates the  capitalist.     The  one  is  impelled  by  the 
yearning   for  greater  profits,   the  other  by  the 
stern  and  imperious  necessity   of  himself  and 
his  family  to  live. 

262  Let  us  suppose   that   an   employer  has 
work  for  ten  workmen  whom  he  employs  and 
pays  them    the  full  value  of  what  their  labour 
produces,  as  he  ought  to  do.      Presently  there 
comes  along  an  unemployed  man  of  the  same 
craft,  and  equally  skilled,  but  reduced  in  circum- 
stances, and  in  a  starving  condition.     He  seeks 
employment  from  the  master  who,  however,  does 
not  need  any  additional  workmen.    The  starving 
man  is  then  urged  by  his  necessities  to  offer  his 


The  measure 
of  the  employ- 
er's injustice  to 
the  employe1. 


The  employ- 
er's instrument. 


The  unequal 
impulses  which 
impel  the 
labourer  and 
the  capitalist  in 
competition. 


An  example 
for  illustration 
to  shew  how 
the  capitalist 
reduces  wages. 


160      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  process 
carried  on 
without  inter- 
ruption until 
the  labou  r  e  r 
reaches  the 
limit  of  subsis- 
tence. 


The  difficul- 
ty of  successful 
resistance  b  y 
the  workmen, 
even  in  combi- 
nation. 


labour  at  something  less  than  its  full  value. 
Here,  then,  is  a  chance  for  the  capitalist  to 
obtain  an  increased  profit,  and  he  forthwith  finds 
an  excuse  to  discharge  one  of  the  ten,  and  sub- 
stitutes the  starving  workman  at  a  diminished 
rate  of  wages.  After  a  brief  interval  the  now 
unemployed  man,  having  failed  in  his  endeavours 
to  find  work  elsewhere,  returns  to  his  late 
master,  and  is  now  willing  to  return  to  his 
service  at  the  same  reduced  rate  as  the  one  who 
supplanted  him.  Again  the  capitalist  sees  a 
chance  to  enhance  his  profits  at  the  expense  of 
another  workman,  and  consequently  another 
substitution  is  effected.  He  then  proposes  to 
the  remaining  eight  that  they  should  all  accept 
the  reduced  rate  of  wages,  with  the  implied 
threat  that  if  anyone  should  demur,  he  must 
change  places  with  the  outside  unemployed 
man.  It  is  evident  that  the  necessity  to  which 
this  competition  exposes  them  will  compel  all  to 
yield,  and  a  general  reduction  of  wages  is  the 
result. 

263  But  as  the  eleventh  man  still  continues 
in  existence,  there  is  no  hindrance  to  the  suc- 
cessful   repetition  of   the  process  by  the  master, 
until  the  wages  of  the  workmen  have  been  re- 
duced from  the  upper  limit  of  the  full  value  of 
their  labour  down  to  the  extreme  limit  of  sub- 
sistence, or  a  bare  living. 

264  It  is  evident,  likewise,  that  the  workmen 
can   offer   no   resistance   to   this  attack  of   the 
employer  upon  them  in  detail,  as  long  as  there 
is  an  unemployed  man,  for  the  employer  him- 
self runs  no  risk  of  loss  at  any  stage  of  the  pro- 
ceeding.     Their  only  chance  lies  in  a  combina- 
tion   of    the  whole   body.       They   may,   by   a 
subscription     among    themselves,    provide    the 


BENEFICIAL   EFFECTS. 


161 


new-comer  with  a  maintenance  without  his 
producing  anything.  This  is  tantamount  to  a 
reduction  of  their  wages  all  round,  but  it  pre- 
vents the  employer  from  compelling  any  further 
reduction,  until  he  can  find  another  unemployed 
man  whom  he  can  make  use  of.  This  method, 
therefore,  can  be  only  partially  and  temporarily 
of  service  to  the  workmen. 

265  The  more  usual  method  adopted  by  the 
whole  body  of  workmen  is  to  strike  work  when 
the  first  starving  workman  is  introduced  into 
their  midst,  and  thus  by  endangering  the  previous 
legitimate  profit  of  the  capitalist  through  the 
stoppage  of  his  works  to-  compel  him  if  possible 
to  oust  the  intruder.  This  reduces  the  matter 
into  a  contest  or  trial  of  endurance  on  the  part 
of  the  capitalist  as  to  how  far  he  can  bear  to 
have  his  profits  reduced  by  his  capital  being 
rendered  unproductive  for  a  time  ;  and  on  the 
part  of  the  workmen  as  to  how  long  the  whole 
body  of  them  can  remain  a  united  whole,  while 
they  are  compelled  to  subsist  only  on  their  pre- 
vious savings,  and  to  endure  often  the  pangs  of 
hunger  and  semi-starvation,  not  only  in  their 
own  persons  but  in  those  of  their  wives  and 
families.  Unless  the  workmen  can  remain  wholly 
united  in  this  policy  it  at  once  breaks  down,  and 
fails  of  effect.  It  is  manifest  how  unequal  such 
a  contest  must  be.  We  can  easily  foresee 
that  in  such  contests  the  workmen  are  placed 
at  a  great  disadvantage  as  compared  with 
the  capitalists,  and  the  repeated  defeats  and 
deplorable  failures  of  the  former  are  proof  not 
of  the  weakness  or  lack  of  justice  in  their 
claims,  but  more  often  are  illustrations  merely 
of  the  proverbial  weakness  of  mere  right 
against  might. 


The  raison 
d'etre  ofstrikcs. 

The  defeats 
of  the  workmen 
must  not  be 
quoted  as  evi- 
dence o  f  t  h  e 
lack  of  justice 
in  their  claims. 


II 


162      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

thJhwo°rkmen°I  266  The  cause  of  this  fundamental  weakness 
weakness  lies  on  the  part  of  the  labourers  is  thus  seen  to  lie  in 
m  the  existence  ^e  existence  of  the  unemployed  and  starving 

of  the      unem-  .  r     J  *  •     t 

ployed."  man,  whom  the  capitalist   uses  as  his  lever   to 

press  down  the  wages  of  the  whole  body  of 
his  employes.  If  there  were  no  unemployed 
element  among  the  labourers,  then  it  would 
be  easy  for  every  workman  to  insist  on  receiv- 
ing the  full  value  of  his  labour,  and  the  capi- 
talist would  be  unable  to  deny  him  his  due. 
Indeed  he  would  scarcely  be  under  any 
temptation  to  do  so.  Under  present  existing 
circumstances,  however,  he  usually  seeks  to 
screen  himself  from  responsibility,  and  to 
apologise  for  his  cruel  and  selfish  conduct  by 
taking  shelter  behind  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand,  as  if  that  were  a  sacred  principle  of 
justice,  incapable  of  ever  being  distorted  or 
abused.  As  for  the  poor  unemployed  man 
whose  necessities  he  uses  as  his  unfortunate 
instrument,  when  the  condemnation  of  public 
reprobation  overtakes  the  capitalist,  the  excuses 
of  the  latter  too  often  remind  us  of  the  words 
of  the  dastardly  John,  casting  his  lying  re- 
proaches on  the  unoffending  Hubert  in  the 
play. 

"  How  oft  the  sight  of  means  to  do  ill  deeds 
Makes  ill  deeds  done  !     Had'st  not  thou  been  by, 
A  fellow  by  the  hand  of  nature  mark'd, 
Quoted,  and  sign'd  to  do  a  deed  of  shame, 
This  murder  had  not  come  into  my  mind." 

The  defence       %QJ  At  the  same  time  it  should  be  remem- 

agSnTCtor-  bered    that    the   capitalist   would    be    perfectly 

tion   on  the  secure  against  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 

workmen!  th°  workmen    to    extort  more    than    the    full  value 

of  their  labour,  and  thus  detract  from  the  due 

return  of  the  capitalist,  because  the  latter  could 


BENEFICIAL   EFFECTS. 


163 


The    combi- 


the 


The  remedy 


une  m  p  1  o  y  e  d 
to    the 


either  sucessfully  defend  himself  by  a  "lock- 
out "  or  by  a  threat  to  transfer  his  capital  into 
other  channels  where  he  would  obtain  the 
normal  rate  of  interest  on  his  investment. 

268  We    have    thus  demonstrated    that    the 
class  of  unemployed    labourers,  created  by  the 

present  landholders'  denial  of  the  right  to  land  and  capitalists 
is  the  instrument  ready  to  hand  of  the  capitalist 
by  which  he  takes  advantage  of  the  labourer 
and  robs  him  of  some  portion  of  the  due  reward 
of  his  toil. 

269  The    next    important    question     which 
arises  then  is,     How  are  we  to  get  rid  of,  and 
expel   from    the   ranks   of    the   workmen,    this 
element  of  the  unemployed?     And  the  answer 
is,     By    diverting    it    back    to    the    land.     The 
number  of  individuals  who   can  earn    a   liveli- 
hood by  engaging  in  manufactures  depends  on 
a  variety  of  circumstances,  and  is  strictly  limited 
by   the    demand  for   the  things    manufactured. 
This  number  is    likewise  diminished    by  every 
new      invention      in     machinery,     and      every 
improvement    introduced     into   the    process    of 
manufacture,  though    this    diminution    is    often 
more  than  neutralized  by  the  increased  demand 
which    follows  on  a  cheapening  of    production. 
With  regard  to  agriculture,  so  far  as  it  depends 
on    the    production    of   raw    materials    for   the 
manufacturers,  the  case  is  essentially  the  same 
in  respect  of  the  number  of  labourers  who  can 
be    employed  in    it.     But    as  we  have    already 
pointed  out   there    is    a  use  of  land,  which    is 
quite  apart    from    its  use  in  the   production  of 
raw  materials,  that    is,  in  which    the  cultivator 
aims  directly  and  solely  at    the  satisfaction    of 
his  own  needs,  without  the  intervention  of  any 
or    but    few    exchanges,    and    which    is    con- 

11* 


164      THE   LAND  AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


Give  the 
English  culti- 
vator a  fair 
chance. 


The  system 
of  "petite 
culture." 


Many  unem- 
ployed or  only 
partially  e  m  - 


sequently  quite  independent  of  the  fluctuations 
of  markets,  and  the  prices  of  raw  materials. 

270  This  is,  of  course,  to  take  the  extremest 
case,  which  we  do  merely  for  the  sake  of  argu- 
ment, and  by  no  means  accepting  it  as  proved 
and  to  be  no  longer  questioned  that  the  English 
cultivator  cannot,  in  the  future,  expect  to  com- 
pete against  the  world  in  the  production  of  food 
and  other  raw  materials.    He  has  never  yet  been 
allowed  a  fair  chance  to  shew  what  he  can  do. 
Let  the  land  be  fairly  thrown  open  to  him,  and 
we  shall  hear  less  about  such  foolish  and  useless 
remedies  as  "  fair  trade."      What  the  labourer 
and  cultivator  really  need  is  free  land  and  free 
labour,  and  then  the  whole  community,  and  not 
a   mere   fraction    of  it,   will   also   reap   all   the 
blessings  of  free  trade. 

271  The  number  of  individuals  that  can  thus 
provide  for  themselves  and  their  families  by  a 
direct  application  of  their  labour  to  the  land,  is 
very  large,  even  in  a  small  country  like  England, 
and  when  the  additional  relief  of  emigration  is 
taken    into    account,   becomes    practically    un- 
limited.    For  when  land  is  not  needed  for  the 
production  of  raw  materials,  but  is  used  mainly 
for  what  is  termed  "  petite  culture,"  as  is  the  case 
largely  in  France,  a  very  small  number  of  acres 
will  supply  all  the  needs  of  a  household.     Grass 
for  a  horse  and  cow,  perhaps,  space  for  pigs  and 
poultry,  geese,  turkeys,  and  rabbits,  and  a  garden 
and   orchard,  will   be    nearly    sufficient    for    his 
wants,  if  the  labourer  does  not  aim  to  produce 
raw  materials,  for  purposes  of  trade   and   ex- 
change. 

272  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  accurately  the 
real  number  of  unemployed  in  the  community 
(though  a  recent  estimate  says  700,000),  because 


BENEFICIAL   EFFECTS.  165 

there  are  but  few,  in  comparison,  who  remain  ployed  would 
constantly  without  employment,  except  those 
who  live  in  the  poor-house.  The  evil  is  rather 
one  of  scarcity,  or  only  partial  employment.  If, 
however,  a  comparatively  small  percentage  of 
the  community  were  to  provide  for  themselves 
in  the  manner  suggested,  that  is,  by  applying 
their  efforts  to  obtain  directly  a  maintenance 
from  the  land,  its  effect  would  speedily  be 
manifest  in  the  increased  prosperity  and  higher 
wages  of  those  engaged  in  trades  and  other 
occupations  in  towns.  There  are,  doubtless, 
many  amongst  those  now  living  in  towns  who 
have  been  driven  from  the  country  by  the 
introduction  of  machinery  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses, and  their  consequent  inability,  under 
present  circumstances,  to  obtain  a  livelihood 
from  the  land.  Many  of  these  might  be  ex- 
pected voluntarily  to  return  to  the  country, 
when  once  the  land  had  been  thrown  open  to 
them,  as  we  propose,  and  many  others  might 
easily  be  persuaded  to  adopt  a  country  life  if 
they  were  assisted  in  making  a  start. 

273  But  we  might  go  much  further  even  than     .Many  ?thers 
this.    Suppose  an  employment  bureau  or  agency  ™t'tf dl  for'/gri- 
were  established,  so  that  information  might  be  cultural  life, 
given  to  enquirers,  and  we  will  suppose,  also, 
that  some  arrangements  were   made,   whereby 
those  who  are  ignorant  as  to  the  management 
and  cultivation  of  animals  and  vegetables  could 
receive  some  practical  instruction  and  guidance 
therein,  then  the  way  to  make  a  start  would  be 
greatly   smoothened   and   simplified.      Many  a 
man  who  has  gone  out  to  settle  on  a  prairie 
would  have  found  his  initial  tasks  much  easier 
had  he  been  taught  previously  how  to  cut  down 
trees,  how  to  build  and  thatch  a  hut,  how  to  dig 


166      THE  LAND  AND  THE  COMMUNITY. 

a  well,  and  a  few  other  things  which  could  have 
been  easily  imparted  to  him. 

•  ThCf  ablda~  ^T4  Wnat  a  relief  &  would  be  to  the  per- 
ofgreai  jubilee!'  plexity  of  a  poor  distracted  Lord  Mayor,  or  a 
bewildered  Prime  Minister  who  is  compelled  to 
receive  with  a  good  grace  a  very  unwelcome 
morning  call  from  the  deputation  who  come  to 
repeat,  on  behalf  of  tens  of  thousands  of  their 
companions,  that  pitiful  refrain,  "  We've  got  no 
work  to  do,"  and  what  joy,  likewise,  it  would 
bring  to  the  hearts  of  those  thousands  of  poor, 
starving,  unwashed,  half -clad,  unkempt  and 
miserable  men  who  form  the  array  of  the  un- 
employed that  is  wont  to  assemble  in  Hyde 
Park  or  around  the  familiar  precincts  of 
Trafalgar  Square,  if  some  great  Heaven-sent 
orator  were  commissioned,  on  behalf  of  the 
community,  to  proclaim  aloud  that  a  day  of 
real  jubilee  was  now  at  hand,  when  the  land 
should  once  more  revert,  in  accordance  with 
the  Divine  decree,  into  the  hands  of  its  original 
possessors,  the  people,  and  that,  from  henceforth, 
abundant  opportunity  for  wrork  and  a  sufficient 
maintenance,  direct  from  the  Heavenly  Father's 
bounty,  would  be  brought  within  the  reach  of 
every  child  of  man  who  was  willing  to  avail 
himself  of  it. 

abNo°utmt0he       275  Would  not  that  put  an  end  for  ever  to 

"decadence   all  those  foolish  fears  about  the  decadence  of 

ofEngiand.'i      England,  and  would  it  not  shew  to  the  world 

once  more  that  this  little  island  is  still  not  only 

worthy  to  be  called  the    "  mother  of   nations," 

but  also  again   to  shew    the  right  way  to   her 

children,  and  teach  them  to  walk  with  her  along 

the  paths  of  liberty  and  freedom,    and    justice 

and  righteousness  ? 


BENEFICIAL    EFFECTS.  167 

Section  in. 

276    Tlie  diminution  and  prospective  aboliticn     The  diminu- 
of  all  taxes  on  lionses  and  personal  property.        tl^ivend  aboii~ 


The  common  theories  as  to  the  incidence  of  tion  of  a11  taxe? 

,  ,  .-.  .         ._      on   person  al 

taxation  are  based  upon  no  definite  or  scientific  property. 
principle.     It  is  commonly  supposed  to  be  fair      The    inl- 
and just  that  a  man  should  be  taxed  in  propor-  tion  at  present 
tion  to  the  amount  of  protection  he  receives  for  based  on  no 
himself  and  his  property  from  the  government,  dpie!' 
or  else  that  he  should  be  taxed  in  proportion  to 
his  income,  without  any  regard  to  the  different 
sources   he   may   derive  it  from.     It  might  be 
worth  while  to  examine  the  justice  of  each  of 
these  theories,  if  it  were  first  demonstrated  to  be 
necessary   that   at    least   some   taxes   must   be 
levied  on  the  property  of  individuals. 

277  But  if  we  can  shew  that  no  tax  whatever     Notaxwhat- 
is  necessary  to  be  laid  upon  any  individual  by  eve*  necessaiy 

,  J    .  r  V  .    /     to  be  laid  upon 

the  community,  we  need  not  then  enter  into  individuals. 
any  discussion  of  the  theories  of  taxation  now 
in  vogue.  That  such  is  actually  the  case,  we 
think,  can  be  readily  shewn.  A  tax  laid  upon 
houses  and  such  personal  property  as  consists  of 
the  products  of  labour,  is,  really  and  truly,  a  tax 
which  diminishes  by  so  much  the  earnings  and 
rewards  of  labour  and  capital  ;  but  a  so-called 
tax  placed  upon  the  rental  values  of  land,  pro- 
vided it  does  not  exceed  the  full  rental  value,  is 
really  not  a  tax  at  all.  It  can  only  become  in 
part  a  tax,  if  it  exceed  the  rental  value,  and  then 
only  to  the  extent  of  that  excess. 

278  The   so-called    landholder,   from   whom     The  land- 
the  collection    of  the  rental  value  is    made,   is  ^chLnTfir 
merely   the    channel    through  which    the   com-  the  collection 
munity  receives  that  which  the  community  itself  ?AJLhh  The 
has  produced.     It  appropriates  nothing  from  the  community. 


168      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


As  in  like 
manner  are  the 
tax-col  lector 
and  the  local 


landholder  which  he  has  himself  produced  or 
earned.  For  it  is  manifest  that  houses  and 
other  products  of  labour,  which  v  c  denominate 
personal  property,  are  the  production,  not  of  the 
community  as  a  whole,  but  of  individuals  who 
are  moved  to  produce  them  in  order  to  satisfy 
the  wants  of  individuals  ;  but  land  values  are 
produced  by  the  community  as  a  whole,  and  not 
by  the  individuals  who  occupy  the  land,  and 
therefore  the  collection  of  these  values  from  the 
landholder  is  not  rightly  called  "  taxing  "  him. 

279  When  the  tax-collector  has  collected 
them  from  the  landholders,  he  must  in  turn 
hand  them  over  to  the  County  or  Borough 
treasurers  of  the  Treasurer,  who  must  dispose  of  them  for  the 
benefit  of  the  community  in  such  ways  as  the 
community  may  deem  fit.  The  landholder,  the 
tax-collector,  and  the  Local  Treasurer  are  so 
many  channels  through  which  the  values  pro- 
duced by  the  community  in  the  land  must  pass 
before  they  can  be  redistributed  in  commumal 
benefits  to  all  the  individual  members.  If  the 
tax-collector  or  the  treasurer  were  to  attempt  to 
retain  them  in  his  own  hands,  or  to  appropriate 
them  for  his  own  use,  he  would,  doubtless, 
speedily  bethink  himself  of  the  propriety  of 
escaping  with  his  booty  from  England  to  the 
Continent,  or  from  the  United  States  across  the 
border  line  into  Canada.  For  the  landholder  in 
like  manner  to  retain  them  for  himself,  as  he  is 
at  present  permitted  to  do,  is  equally  against 
moral  right  and  justice.  That  it  is  not  at 
present  so  regarded,  as  against  legal  right,  only 
adds  one  more  illustration  to  shew  how  far  our 
notions  of  legal  right  have  become  warped  from 
the  true  standards  of  right,  which  the  law  pro- 
fesses to  acknowledge  and  uphold. 


BENEFICIAL   EFFECTS. 


169 


280  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  land  values  are 
the   proper  source  from  which  to  supply  com- 
munal wants.       To  make  a  raid  on  the  personal 
property  of  individuals,  in  order  to  supply  com- 
munal wants  can  only  be  morally  justifiable  after 
all  the  resources  of  land  values  have  been  pre- 
viously exhausted.      To  collect  from  the  land- 
lord the  rental  values  which  the  community  has 
produced,  is,  as  we  have  said,  no  more  putting  a 
tax  on  him,  than  for  the  labourer  to  collect  from 
his  employer  the  wages  which  he  has  earned. 
But   when  we  take    from    an  individual   some 
portion   of  the   earnings,   which,  either  by   his 
labour,  or  by  his  capital,  devoted  to  the  work  of 
production,  he  has  obtained  for  the  supply  of 
his  own  individual  wants,  we  do  really  and  truly 
tax  him  ;  and  the  community  can  only  justify 
the     proceeding     by    assuming     a    paramount 
necessity   to   exist    for   making    provision     for 
the  communal  wants  in  preference  over   those 
of  any  single  individual. 

281  Necessity,  as  we  have  often  learnt,  knows 
no  law,  but  as  soon  as  necessity  ceases  to  compel, 
the   principles   of  just  law  should   again  come 
into  play.      We  may  easily  foresee  a  time  when 
the  rental  values  of  land  will  be   sufficient   to 
enable  us  to  diminish  and  ultimately  to  dispense 
altogether  with  the  taxation  which   now   rests 
upon  houses  and  personal  property.      A  begin- 
ning might  be  made  in  abolishing  the  customs 
duties  on  various  articles  of  general  consump- 
tion ;  and  then  there  are  the  excise  duties,  which 
if  it  were  deemed  expedient  to  retain  them  for 
purposes  of  morality  and  temperance,  would  not 
be  collected  primarily,  as  they  are  now,  for  the 
sake  of  the  revenue  they  afford. 

282  Most  important  of  all,  however,  would 


Unjustifiable 
to  make  a  raid 
on  the  funds 
o  f  individuals 
for  the  supply 
of  communal 
wants  until 
land  values  are 
exhausted. 


The  prospec- 
t  i  v  e  abolition 
of  customs  and 
excise  duties. 


Also  aboli- 
tion of  county 


I/O      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


and      borough 
rates. 


Appro  p  r  i  a- 
tion  of  Income 
Tax  to  extin- 
guish National 
Debt. 


Nothing  re- 
maining but 
the  single  tax, 
or  rent-charge 
on  land  values. 


Still  there 
would  exist  a 
sufficient  sur- 
plus for  the 
ample  supply 
of  communal 
wants. 


be  the  removal  of  the  local  rates  which  now 
press  so  heavily  upon  all  occupiers.  These  are 
imposed  mainly  now  for  the  purpose  of  enabling 
the  local  governments  to  perform  their  repres- 
sive functions.  These  are  a  severe  tax  in  the 
shape  of  an  insurance  against  danger,  which, 
though  necessary  to  be  borne  for  motives  of 
prudence,  adds  but  little  directly  to  the  comfort 
and  well-being  of  the  individuals,  and  might  be 
largely  dispensed  with  in  a  well-ordered  com- 
munity. Ultimately,  then,  this  burden  of  rates 
might  be  removed,  and  the  rental  values  drawn 
upon  for  this  purpose. 

283  There   would     then    remain    only    the 
Income-tax,  which  might,  perhaps,  be  retained 
nominally,  as  a  convenient  and  ready  resource  to 
provide  from,  in  case  of  sudden  emergency  or 
war,  and  which  might,  also,  be  regularly  used  as 
a   fund   wherewith   to   diminish    the    National 
Debt. 

284  We  should  thus  have  arrived,  practically 
at  a  single  tax,  or,  more  properly  named,  rent- 
charge  on  land  values,  and  have  abolished  every 
tax  on  houses  and  personal  property,  which  to- 
gether may  be    considered  to  include    all    the 
products  of  labour  and  capital. 

285  The    annual  expenditure   for  local  and 
imperial    taxation    is    at    present     about     160 
millions,  and    the   rental   value  has   been    esti- 
mated roughly  at  about  200  millions.      Without 
relying  then  upon  any  other  source  than  this 
latter,  we  may  be  able  when  a  new  system  of 
tenure  has  settled  into  its  normal  condition  of 
working,  to  meet  every  expenditure,  both   local 
and    imperial,    and    supply    various    communal 
needs  without  inflicting  a  tax  of  any  kind  on 
any  single   individual,  but  simply  by  collecting 


BENEFICIAL   EFFECTS. 


171 


the  rental  values  of  land.  That  may,  indeed, 
be  looked  forward  to  as  the  era  of  No  Taxa- 
tion. 

Section  iv. 

286   TJie  diminution  and  gradual  extinction  of 
involuntary  poverty. 

We  have  seen,  now,  some  of  the  beneficial 
results  which  may  reasonably  be  expected  to 
follow  from  the  proposed  new  system  of  land 
tenure.  We  have  considered  its  effect  in  freeing 
the  land  from  the  burdens  and  fetters  under 
which  it  at  present  groans,  and  throwing  it  open 
on  easy  conditions  to  the  cultivators  and  occu- 
piers. We  have  seen  what  good  may  result 
from  the  elimination  of  undesirable  elements  in 
the  different  classes  of  the  population,  the  con- 
version of  the  landlords  into  improvement 
owners,  the  suppression  of  the  monopolistic 
capitalists,  and  the  conversion  of  their  capital 
into  healthful  channels,  the  gathering  of  the  un- 
employed back  again  to  the  land  which  they 
have  been  driven  to  desert,  and  the  cessation 
of  the  unhealthy  competition  between  the 
labourers  in  the  towns,  and  we  have  also  seen  in 
prospect  the  diminution  and  abolition  of  all 
taxation  of  the  earnings  of  either  labour  or 
capital. 

287  WThat  will  follow  further,  then,  we  may 
now  see.  The  emancipation  of  labour  and 
capital  from  the  unwholesome  and  unnatural  con- 
ditions under  which  they  now  carry  on  their  com- 
bined functions  in  the  work  of  production  must 
inevitably  result  in  greater  gains  to  both.  The 
labourer  will  be  able  now  to  obtain  the  full 
reward  of  his  labour  either  from  an  employer  or 
by  working  for  himself.  Hence  also  there  will 


The  diminu- 
tion and  gra- 
dual abolition 
of  involuntary 
poverty. 

A  summing 
up  of  the 
benefitsalready 
enumerated. 


Removal  of 
causes  of  diver- 
gence between 
i  n  t  e  r  e  s  ts  of 
labourers  and 
capitalists. 


172      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

arise  an  increasqd  demand  for  capital  to  be  en- 
gaged in  production,  and  this  cause  should  not 
only  bring  to  capital  an  increased  return,  but  in 
virtue  of  the  existence  of  more  stable  relations 
between  these  two  factors  of  production,  it 
should  render  it  less  liable  to  be  wasted  or 
destroyed  through  capricious  fluctuations  in 
trade,  or  in  consequence  of  the  rupture  of 
cordial  and  friendly  relations  between  employers 
and  workmen. 

No  more  in-  288  When  then  we  have  secured  not  only  an 
erty.nt  NO  more  enormous  increase  in  the  production  of  wealth, 
baneful  tenden-  but  also  have  established  conditions  which  shall 
Aytnew6qbeauty  permanently  secure  an  equitable  distribution  of 
in  "Magni-  it  between  labourers  and  capitalists,  on  the  one 
hand,  for  the  supply  of  their  own  individual 
wants,  and  to  the  community  on  the  other  hand, 
for  the  supply  of  its  communal  wants,  it  is 
evident  that  there  can  be  no  exaggeration  in 
declaring  that  the  existence  of  involuntary 
poverty  is  no  longer  possible  or  conceivable,  and 
that  the  increased  prosperity  of  true  capitalists 
rests  on  a  sure  and  permanent  basis.  The 
causes  and  conditions  which  now  tend  to  create 
the  enormous  gulf  of  inequality  which  separates 
the  rich  from  the  poor,  will  no  longer  operate, 
and  year  by  year  there  will  be  an  approach 
to  that  equality  which  will  gradually  oblite- 
rate every  hateful  and  misleading  dis- 
tinction of  class,  and  will  inspire  with  a 
wondrous  beauty  and  emphasis  of  meaning 
those  familiar  words  which  we  so  often  sing 
with  a  glorious  and  ravishing  accompani- 
ment of  vocal  and  instrumental  harmony 
indeed,  but  with  such  a  painfully  sad  and  inex- 
pressible feeling  of  incongruity  in  the  heart,  as 
we  contemplate  the  circumstances  of  too  many 


BENEFICIAL   EFFECTS.  1/3 

of   God's  children    in  these  latter  days   of  the 
world's  existence. 

"  He  hath  put  down  the  mighty  from  their 
seat,  and  hath  exalted  the  humble  and  meek. 
He  hath  filled  the  hungry  with  good  things, 
and  the  rich  He  hath  sent  empty  away." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


Who  mieht 
be  injured  by 
the  change? 
Who  might  be 
entitled  to 
receive  c  o  m- 
pensation  ? 


^  A  general 
law  cannot 
deal  with  the 
peculiarities  of 
individual 
cases.  No  dis- 
crimination. 


WHO   MIGHT   BE   INJURED   BY   THE   CHANGE. 

289  We   have  now   described  the   working, 
and  discussed  the  effects  of  the  proposed  change 
in  the  system  of  land  tenure,  and  so  at  length 
we  come  to   consider   the   questions  as  to  who 
might  be  injured  by  the  change,  who  might  in 
consequence  be  entitled  to  receive  compensation 
for  the  loss  he  may  undergo,  and  from  whom, 
if  from  any  one,  can  he  justly  claim  it. 

290  It   is  not  possible  here   to   discuss   the 
details  of  individual  cases.   We  can  but  consider 
the  different  classes  of  the  community  in  their 
general  circumstances.     It  is  not  denied  that  the 
interests  of  some  individuals  in  every  class  will 
be  considerably  affected  ;  in  many  cases  indeed, 
for  the  better,  in    some   few  doubtless   for   the 
worse.     But   generally  speaking,  there  is  good 
reason  for  thinking  that  the  improvement  will 
be  permanent  in  its  nature,  the  injury  or  dis- 
advantage   will    be     probably   temporary  only, 
operating,  perhaps,  until  such  time  as  the  change 
from  the  old  to  the  new   conditions  shall  have 
become  established.     But  no  such  case  of  tem- 
porary injury  could  suffice  to  establish  a  legal 
claim   for    compensation   against   the  State   or 
against  any  individual  or  corporation.      Every 


WHO   INJURED   BY   THE   CHANGE. 


law  that  comes  into  operation  affects  some 
individuals  of  the  community  in  a  way  which 
they  may  deem  unfair  or  prejudicial  to  their 
personal  interests ;  but  manifestly  the  State 
cannot  be  limited  in  its  power  to  legislate  for  the 
benefit  of  the  community  by  such  considerations 
as.this.  The  State  cannot  justly  make  laws  with 
the  direct  and  avowed  object  of  discriminating 
against  individuals  solely  (for  that  is  contrary  to 
the  principle  of  equal  rights)  but  by  means  of 
general  laws  applicable  to  the  whole  community, 
it  may  nevertheless  without  injustice  enact  laws 
which  in  their  operation  may  incidentally  work 
to  the  disadvantage  of  some  individuals.  If  a 
general  law  works  beneficially  for  the  whole 
community,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  in- 
dividuals, it  is  reasonable  to  infer  that  there  is 
something  peculiar  and  abnormal  in  the  circum- 
stances of  the  latter  which  should  be  amended, 
rather  than  that  blame  should  attach  to  the 
law. 

291  We   will  therefore   proceed   to  consider 
separately  the   cases  of  the   three   classes   into 
which  the  community  may  at   present  be  con- 
veniently divided,  the  labourers,  the  capitalists, 
the  landlords. 

292  As  to  the  Labourers,  it  is  clear  that  in 
every  way  they  would  be  great  gainers  by  the 
change,  because  they  are  the  greatest  sufferers 
from  the  present  system.     Not  that  they  would 
obtain    any   unfair    advantage   over   the   other 
classes,  but   they  would  for   the   first   time   in 
history,  perhaps,  receive  their  just  due. 

293  This   same   is   true,  though   in    a  much 
less  degree,  of  the  true   Capitalist,  who   is   not 
also  a  monopolist.     The  capitalist  would,  how- 
ever, be  deprived  of  his  power    to   take   advan- 


The  three 
classes  to  be 
co  ns  i  dered, 
labourers,  cap- 
i  t  a  1  ists  and 
landlords. 

Labo u  r  e  r  s 
would  certainly 
be  benefited. 


The  true 
capitalistwould 
be  deprived  of 
his  lever,  the 
unemployed 
element,  but 


176      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


could  not  com- 
plain. 


The  monop- 
olistic capital- 
ists and  cor- 
porations 
would  have 
their  franchises 
revoked  or  ter- 
minated, but 
their  machin- 
ery, plant  and 
works  would 
be  purchased 
at  a  fair  valua- 
tion. 


tage  of  the  existence  of  circumstances  which 
compel  the  labourers  to  engage  in  what  is 
sometimes  called  a  "cut-throat  competition," 
and  by  which  unscrupulous  employers  have 
augmented  their  profits  by  accelerating  the 
downward  tendency  of  the  labourer's  wages 
towards  the  limits  of  a  bare  living.  We  scarcely 
anticipate  that  the  employers  will  venture  to 
prefer  a  claim  for  compensation  against  any 
one  for  being  deprived  of  this  vantage-ground. 

294  We   come   next   to   the   case   of    those 
capitalists  or  corporations  who  at  present  enjoy 
the  privilege  of  a  monopoly  of  some  kind  which 
the   State   or   the   local    community   should  in 
future   take   into    its    own  management.      This 
applies  to  the  case  of  the  railroads,  performing 
national  functions  and  to  the  companies  or  cor- 
porations  which   perform    lesser    functions    on 
behalf  of    local   communities,   supplying   them 
with  water,  gas,  electricity,  heat,  tramways,  &c. 
When  these  functions  are  assumed  by  the  com- 
munity,  it  will  be  proper  for  it  to  purchase  the 
machinery,  plant,  works,  &c.,  of  those  corpora- 
tions whom  it  deprives  of  their  monopoly.     It 
would    not   be   reasonable   to  expect  the  com- 
munity to  purchase  the  stocks  at  their  quotations 
on    the  market   or   the   exchange,   because  the 
total  prices   would    in    many  cases   be    largely 
enhanced  above  their  real  value  by  the  "  water  " 
which  has  been  at  one  period    or  another  in- 
jected into  the  stock.     This  has  been  rendered 
possible,  owing  to  the  possession  of  the  monopoly 
power  which  the  corporations  have  wielded  to 
the  disadvantage  of  the  community  ;  and  because 
of  the  liability  to  such  abuse  it  is  expedient  that 
the   community   itself  should  now  assume  the 
control  of  the  monopoly. 


WHO   INJURED   BY  THE  CHANGE.         I// 


295  A    fair    basis    would    be    obtained   by 
ascertaining  at  what  cost  the  community  could, 
if  needful,   duplicate    or   replace    the   working 
system  of  the  corporation,  and  deducting  from 
that    amount   in    proportion   to    the   wear    and 
tear  which  it  has  undergone.     If  this  were  done 
we  apprehend  that  no  ground  would  remain  for  a 
claim  for  compensation.  Every  charter  given  to  a 
corporation'must  be  subject  to  be  annulled  at  any 
future  time  by  the  legislature,  if  its  continuance 
be    found  contrary  to  public   policy,   and  pro- 
ductive  of  evil   to   the  community.     No  prior 
legislature  can,  even,  by  contract,  abridge  this 
right  of  every  existing  legislature. 

296  There   remains  then  only   the  class    of 
Landlords  now  to  be  considered.     Their  case  is 
doubtless  the  most  important,  and  demands  a 
fair  and  impartial  consideration.     What  would 
the  landlords  lose  by  the  change  ?     In  order  to 
make  the  investigation  clear,  we  will  divide  this 
question  into  two  parts,  considering  first  separ- 
ately  the  "  improvements"   and    afterwards  the 
bare  land.     What  then  will  the  landlord  lose,  if 
anything,  in  reference  to  the  value  of  the  "  im- 
provements,"   first,  if    he  be    a    tenant   in   fee 
simple  ;    secondly,    if  he   be   a   tenant    for  life 
only? 

297  Consider  first  the  case  of  the  tenant  in 
fee   simple.     In   reference   to  the   value  of  the 
improvements  upon  the  land,  the  landlord  would 
lose  nothing,  but  rather  would  gain  through  the 
increased  competition  that  would  ensue  amongst 
those  desiring  to  cultivate  or  occupy  land  under 
the  new  conditions.     The  landlord  owning  the 
improvements  on  the  land  would  have  the  privi- 
lege of  selling  them  or  transferring  them  by  gift 
or  devise  to  any  one  he  pleased,  and  along  with 

12 


Every  charter 
must  of  neces- 
sity be  subject 
to  be  annulled, 
if  its  continu- 
ance be  found 
contrary  to 
public  policy. 


The  case  of 
the  Landlords 
divided  into 
two  parts,  to 
be  treated 
sepa  r  a  t  e  1  y — 
the  improve- 
ments and  the 
bare  land. 
Also  the  case 
of  the  tenant  in 
fee  simple  must 
be  distinguish- 
ed from  that 
of  the  tenant 
for  life  only. 


As  to  the 
"improve- 
ments" the 
tenant  in  fee 
simple  would 
probably  lose 
nothing,  but 
would  rather 
benefit  •  b  y  an 
increased  com- 
petition for  oc- 
c  u  p  a  t  i  on  of 
land. 


THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


And  the  ten- 
ant for  life 
would  be  put 
in  exactly  the 
same  position 
as  if  he  were 
tenant  in  fee 
simple,  and 
therefore  would 
gain  greatly. 


the  improvements  the  community  would  permit 
the  possession  of  the  land  to  go,  subject,  of 
course,  to  the  payment  of  the  rental  value  by  the 
new  occupant.  The  landlords  would  in  no  way 
be  disturbed  in  their  possession  of  the  land  which 
they  were  desirous  of  using  themselves,  though 
the  payment  of  the  rental  value  would  doubt- 
less compel  them  to  dispose  of  that  which  they 
were  unable  or  unwilling  to  use. 

298  Secondly,  the  present  possessor  of  an 
estate  "  settled  "  according  to  the  prevailing  cus- 
tom is  but  a  tenant  for  life,  and  as  he  is  pre- 
vented from  committing  waste,  &c.,  he  is  not  the 
real  owner  of  the  improvements  on  the  estate, 
and  cannot,  under  present  circumstances  sell  or 
dispose  of  them  for  his  own  benefit.  The  unborn 
child  of  the  heir,  however,  upon  whom  so  much 
unnecessary  solicitude  is  bestowed  in  deeds  of 
settlement  might  be  left  out  of  consideration,  as 
there  would  doubtless  be  abundance  of  time  for 
him  to  be  trained  up  so  as  to  become  accustomed 
to  new  and  more  suitable  and  equitable  condi- 
tions. The  tenant  for  life  would,  therefore,  be 
placed  in  a  far  better  position  than  that  which  he 
now  occupies,  and  he  would  be  able  to  sell  or 
devise  his  improvements  by  will  in  any  manner 
that  he  pleased  amongst  his  wife  and  family, 
instead  of,  as  now,  being  compelled  to  follow  the 
custom  of  primogeniture.  He  would  occupy,  in 
this  respect,  exactly  the  same  position  as  a 
tenant  in  fee  simple.  It  is  clear  therefore  that 
no  disadvantage  whatever  would  accrue  to  the 
landlords  in  respect  of  the  improvements  on 
their  estates ;  but  on  the  contrary  they  would 
gain  a  much  greater  power  and  freedom  in 
disposing  of  them  which  would  tend  to  increase 
their  value  to  the  present  possessor. 


WHO    INJURED   BY   THE   CHANGE. 


299  We  come  now  to   the  question    of  the 
bare   land.      Here  again    we    must   divide  the 
landlords    into    two    classes,  and    examine  first 
the  cases    of   those    who    have    purchased    the 
land  for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  it  or   occu- 
pying it  as  a  site,  and  next  the  cases  of  those 
who    purchased    or   inherited    the    land    as    an 
investment  from  which  to  obtain  rent.     In  the 
latter  class  of  cases  we    must    also  distinguish 
again  between    the  tenants  in  fee    simple,  and 
the  tenants  for  life. 

300  Suppose,  then,  first,  the  case  of  the  land- 
lord who  purchased  the  land  for  the  purpose  of 
cultivating  it  or  occupying  it  as  a  site.     This  is 
the  case  of   the  farmer  or   cultivator  who  has 
purchased  a  farm  or  a  market  garden  that  he 
may   till  it ;    or  the  case   of  the   merchant   or 
manufacturer   who   has   bought   a   site   for   his 
warehouse  or  his  factory ;    or  the  case  of   the 
workman  who   has   invested   his   savings   on  a 
small  plot  on  which  to  erect  his  cottage.     The 
loss  which  any  one  of  these  might  suffer  from 
the  change  of  system  would  be  very  problema- 
tical, if  there  be  indeed  any  loss  at  all.     For  the 
case  is  not  as  if  only  one  farmer  or  one  mer- 
chant, or  one  workman's  land  was  affected,  but 
it  is  all  the  land  in  the  country  that  is  thus  to  be 
affected  by  a  general  law.     If,  then,  the  farmer 
should   desire   to   change   his  farm,   he   cannot 
indeed  sell  his  present  one  and  take  the  money 
obtained    to   buy   another   one ;    but   he    finds, 
nevertheless,  he  can  obtain  a  new  farm  without 
any  purchase  money.     He  is,  therefore,  just  as 
well  off  as  if  he  could  have  sold  the  old  farm  to 
enable   him  to  purchase  the  new  one.     So  also 
the  merchant,  the  manufacturer,  and  the  work- 
man   can   change   their    sites   without   need   of 

12* 


Next,  as  to 
the  bare  land, 
two  cases  also 
t  o  b  e  distin- 
guished. 
Case  i.  Those 
who  have  pur- 
chased land 
for  cultivation 
o  r  occupation 
as  a  site. 
Case  ii.  Those 
who  have  pur- 
chased or  in- 
herited land  as 
an  investment 
to  obtain  rent. 

Land  for 
cultivation  o  r 
occupation  as 
a  site.  Only 
in  very  excep- 
tional  case 
could  there  be 
loss  to  an  indi- 
vidual, while  to 
every  father  of 
a  family  an  im- 
mense gain  and 
relief. 


I  SO      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


Land  as  an 
investment  to 
obtain  rent. 
In  this  case,  if 
a  tenant  in  fee 
simple,  the 
landlord's  loss 
heaviest.  He 
retains  the  land 
but  loses  i  t  s 
rental  value  for 


purchase  money.  Nay,  what  is  more,  each  one 
of  them  would  be  in  a  position  to  obtain  farms 
and  sites  for  all  his  children  as  they  grew  up 
without  the  necessity  of  his  laying  up  capital  to 
purchase  for  them.  These  men  would,  there- 
fore, be  in  a  far  better  position  than  now,  when 
this  provision  for  their  children  is  taken  into 
account.  The  only  case  in  which  any  of  these 
would  find  he  had  suffered  a  loss  would  be,  if  he 
desired  to  change  his  occupation  to  such  a  one 
as  he  would  no  longer  need  land  at  all,  either 
for  cultivating,  or  as  a  site  for  a  factory,  or  a 
house.  This  might  happen  to  one  who  was 
retiring  from  business  for  life,  intending  to  live 
independently  upon  his  means,  but  in  that  case 
he  would  certainly  be  in  a  position  to  endure 
the  slight  loss  without  feeling  it  very  keenly. 
How  much  real  loss  would  a  man  undergo  who 
has  paid  an  exorbitant  price  in  laying  in  a  stock 
of  food  to-day,  because  he  is  shut  up  in  a  be- 
sieged city,  when  he  finds  out  that  the  siege  is 
to  be  raised  to-morrow,  and  that  food  will  in 
future  be  obtainable  at  ordinary  prices  or  almost 
for  nothing?  How  much  mock  sympathy  we 
should  bestow  upon  him,  if  he  complained  of 
his  ill-luck,  or  began  to  talk  of  compensation  ? 
Just  such  is  the  measure  of  loss  to  any  landlord 
who  has  purchased  land  for  the  purpose  of 
cultivating  or  occupying  it  for  a  site. 

301  Suppose  now  the  landlord  purchased  or 
inherited  the  land  in  fee  simple,  merely  as  an 
investment  from  which  to  obtain  rent.  We 
observe  that  the  land  would  not,  in  consequence 
of  the  change  of  system  lose  anything  of  its 
fertility,  its  convenience  of  situation,  its  adap- 
tability for  use  in  any  way.  It  would  be  as 
desirable  as  ever,  and  probably  more  so,  for 


WHO   INJURED   BY   THE   CHANGE.         l3l 


cultivation  or  occupation.  But  it  would  have 
lost  its  selling  value,  as  between  one  possessor 
of  it  and  another,  in  consequence  of  the  com- 
munity having  appropriated  for  itself  the  full 
rental  value.  When  a  man  then  has  invested 
his  capital  in  land  in  order  to  obtain  rent,  he 
receives  in  exchange  the  land  and  its  annual 
rental  value,  and  he  possesses  besides  the 
privilege,  if  he  chooses  to  make  use  of  it,  of 
reconverting  the  land  and  its  rental  value  back 
again  into  his  principal  invested.  After  the 
change  of  system  has  been  introduced,  he  re- 
tains the  land,  but  he  has  lost  the  rental  value 
for  all  time,  and  the  privilege  of  re-conversion. 
This  would  be  the  case  of  real  loss.  In  the  case 
of  one  who  has  come  into  possession  of  the 
land  as  a  tenant  in  fee  simple,  either  by  will  or 
inheritance,  the  loss  by  the  change  would  be 
precisely  the  same.  In  the  case  of  a  minor  or 
heir  looking  forward  to  possess  the  land  in  fee 
simple,  his  actual  loss  by  the  change  would  be 
nothing,  since  he  had  not  yet,  and  might  perhaps 
never  come  into  possession  even  as  things  now 
are.  His  expectations  only  would  be  dis- 
appointed. 

302  Finally,  we  recur  once  more  to  the  case 
of  the  tenant  for  life.  By  far  the  greater  por- 
tion of  the  land  in  the  United  Kingdom  is  held 
under  deeds  of  settlement  which  give  the  present 
possessor  of  the  land  a  life-interest  only  in  it, 
and  in  every  such  case  the  loss  to  the  landlord 
by  the  change  is  very  much  less  than  to  a  tenant 
in  fee  simple.  He  possesses  now  the  land  and 
its  annual  rental  value  for  the  period  only  of  his 
own  lifetime,  but  he  does  not  under  present  con- 
ditions possess  the  privilege  of  converting  the 
land  into  principal  for  his  own  use.  After  the 


all    time,    and 

also  the  privi- 
lege of  recon- 
verting the  land 
into  money. 


But  if  he  be 
a  tenant  for 
life  only,  he 
loses  the  rental 
value  for  his 
own  life-time 
only. 


1 82      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


The  act  for 
the  resumption 
of  land  by  the 
community  a 
d  i  sen  tailing 
act. 


P  The  only 
class  of  losers 
would  be  land- 
lords who  had 
purchased  o  r 
inherited  land 
not  for  use  but 
as  an  invest- 
ment to  obtain 
rent. 


change  he  loses  this  rental  value  only,  retaining 
the  land.  In  the  case  of  one  who  merely  looked 
forward  to  possess  a  life  estate  in  the  land,  his 
actual  loss  by  the  change  would  be  nothing,  and 
his  disappointed  expectations  even  would  be 
less  than  in  the  case  of  a  prospective  tenant 
in  fee  simple,  for  he  would  not  of  course  count 
on  enjoying  the  privilege  of  re-conversion  of  the 
land  into  principal. 

303  We  do  not  deem  it  expedient  to  waste 
any  time  in  discussing  the  case  of  the  heirs  yet 
unborn,  for   a  little  judicious  explanation    and 
timely  training  will  teach  them  to  recognise  the 
natural  rights  of  other  infants   as  well  as  their 
own,  and  so  no  unfounded  expectations  could 
ever  arise  in  their  minds  as  they  grew  up.     The 
act  for  the  resumption  of  the  land  by  the  people 
would   be   in    effect   a   disentailing   act   for   all 
"  settled  estates,"  which   would   bar   the    entail 
far  more  effectively,  and  at  the  same  time  in 
complete  accordance  with  principles  of  justice, 
than  did  the  old-time  contrivances  of  common 
recovery  and  fines.     The  system  of  entails  was 
long  ago  declared  by  English  law  to  be  contrary 
to   public   policy,   and    abolished    as   far  as  its 
maintenance  by  law  is  concerned.     The  system 
survives  now  merely  by  custom,  to  which   the 
law  has  been  surreptitiously  induced  to  lend  its 
sanction. 

304  We  see  then  now  precisely  who  would 
be  the  losers  by  the  change  of  tenure,  and  we 
see,  also,  the  exact  measure  of  their  loss.    Those 
who  have  purchased  land   for   the  purpose    of 
cultivating  or  occupying  it  would  lose  nothing 
absolutely,   though,   relatively   to    others,    they 
would  not  profit  quite  as  much  by  the  change. 
Among  those  cnly  who  have  purchased  or  in- 


WHO   INJURED   BY  THE   CHANGE.         183 


herited  land  not  for  use  but  as  an  investment  to 
obtain  rent  will  there  be  any  loss,  and  in  the 
case  of  all  landlords  who  are  tenants  for  life 
only,  the  loss  will  be  far  less  than  in  those  who 
are  tenants  in  fee  simple. 

305  Now  the  number  of  tenants  in  fee  simple 
who  have  purchased  land  merely  as  an  invest- 
ment, and  without  using  or  intending  to  use  it 
for  cultivation  or  occupation,  must  be  very  small 
indeed,  since  it  is  well  known  that  in  a  pecuniary 
sense  there  are  far  more  profitable  investments 
to  be  made  otherwise  than  in  land.       The  prin- 
pal  class  of  losers  that  need  to  be  considered 
would    be   the   tenants  for  life,  who    probably 
possess   three-quarters  or  four-fifths    of  all  the 
land  in  the  kingdom.       These  have  already,  for 
their  private  gratification  voluntarily  renounced 
the  privilege  of  selling  and  re-converting  their 
land  into  principal,  when  the  family  settlement 
was  made.       By  the  proposed  change  of  tenure 
they  would  now  lose  the  rental  value  of  their 
land  for  the  remainder  of  their  lifetimes. 

306  If  these  tenants  for  life  were  to  be  de- 
prived suddenly  of  the  rental  values   of  their 
land,  the  loss  to  them  would  be  very  great ;  but 
as  we  have  suggested   in  Chapter  X.,  that  the 
change    of   system   may  be  most   conveniently 
made  by  extending  it  over  a  period  of  years  (say 
a  quarter  of  a  century  from  its  initiation),  it  is 
evident   that   there   could  be   very   few  of   the 
present  tenants  for  life  whose  interests   in  the 
land  would  be,  even  under  present  circumstances, 
likely  to  extend  beyond  that  period.       Every 
tenant  for  life   has  now,  in  addition  to  his  life 
interest  in  the  rental  value  of   the  land,  a  life 
interest    also    in    the    improvements  ;     but    we 
purpose    by  the  change  to  extend    his  interest 


Of  these  the 
tenants  in  fee 
simple  would 
be  very  few ; 
the  tenants  for 
life  would  be 
the  largest  and 
most  impor- 
tant class. 


The  tenants 
for  life  would 
be  allowed  the 
benefit  of  a 
quarter  of  a 
century  a  s  a 
transition 
period.  They 
would  also  be- 
come full  own- 
ers of  all  the 
improvemen  t  s 
on  their  land, 
instead  of  hav- 
i  n  g  merely  a 
life  interest  in 
them.  Thus 
their  loss  would 
be  minimised, 
if  not  entirely 
compensated 
for. 


184      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


in  the  improvements,  and  make  him  full  owner 
of  them,  that  is,  in  fact,  to  restore  to  him  that 
privilege  of  converting  them  into  principal  if 
he  pleases  to  sell  them  outright,  which  he  bar- 
gained away  for  the  indulgence  of  his  imme- 
diate gratification  when  the  family  settlement 
was  made,  as  he  did  in  like  manner  with  a 
part  of  his  interest  in  the  land  itself.  Of  course 
if  he  does  not  desire  to  sell  them,  he  would 
then  remain  owner  of  their  rental  value  for  all 
time,  instead  of  during  his  own  lifetime  only, 
and  could  devise  or  bequeath  the  rental  value 
of  the  improvements  as  he  pleased.  This 
would  be  a  very  great  gain  to  him.  To  this 
it  should  be  added  that  he  would  be  gradually 
relieved  of  the  pressure  of  the  local  rates  upon 
his  improvements,  for  we  have  already  sug- 
gested that  as  rental  values  increased,  all  taxes 
should  be  abolished  on  personal  property,  and 
on  houses  and  other  improvements.  As,  there- 
fore, the  share  of  the  tenant  for  life  in  the 
rental  value  progressively  diminished  (say  at 
the  rate  of  4  per  cent,  per  annum)  from  100  per 
cent,  down  to  zero  in  the  course  of  25  years, 
it  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  he  might  obtain 
as  much  additional  gain  from  his  increased 
interest  in  the  improvements  and  in  being  re- 
lieved from  all  other  taxation  of  his  property 
as  would  fully  compensate  him  for  the  loss  of 
his  rental  value. 

We  disregard  307  We  may  sum  up  our  conclusions  respect- 
'ir}S  landlords,  then,  in  this  chapter  as  follows. 
We  do  not  undertake  to  pass  a  judgment  on 
the  case  of  any  individual  landlord  whose  cir- 
cumstances are  in  any  degree  peculiar  and  un- 
typical of  a  class.  We  pass  over  the  claims  of 
unborn  descendants  of  landlords  as  being  suffi- 


possessors. 


WHO   INJURED   BY   THE   CHANGE.         185 


ciently  provided  for  by  the  full  recognition  of 
their  natural  rights,  and  as  neither  needing  nor 
deserving  any  other  provision.  We  leave  out  of 
consideration,  likewise,  the  interests  of  those 
heirs  whose  claims  do  not  depend  upon  present 
possession,  but  merely  upon  future  expecta- 
tions, which  are  often  so  much  exaggerated,  and 
which  are  dependent  on  so  many  uncertain- 
ties of  life  and  events  as  to  render  it  impossible 
even  if  it  were  desirable,  to  endeavour  to  esti- 
mate them. 

308  Confining  ourselves,  then,  to  the  different 
classes  of  landlords  whose  interests  are  those 
of  present  enjoyment  and  possession,  we  find  it 
impossible  to  point  out  any  one  class  of  them 
whose  interests  would  materially  suffer  in  one 
way  by  the  introduction  of  the  communal 
system  of  land  tenure,  without  them  receiving 
in  other  ways  compensating  advantages  which 
would  amply  offset  their  loss,  and  leave  them,  if 
not  relatively  as  great  gainers  as  other  classes  of 
the  community  by  the  change,  yet  at  least  in  no 
degree  absolute  losers.  Of  compensation  in  a 
direct  form  there  would  be  none  ;  but,  indirectly 
the  compensations  that  would  accrue  would  be 
sufficiently  ample. 


The  conclu- 
sion ai  rived  at 
is  that  most 
landlords 
would  lose 
nothing  with- 
o  u  t  receiving 
ad vant  ages 
nearly,  if  not 
fully,  compen- 
sating. In  the 
case  of  the  re- 
mainder if  not 
relatively  as 
great  gainers 
by  he  change 
as  other  classes 
of  the  commu- 
nity, yet  at 
least,  in  no 
degree  absolute 
losers. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


The  Great 
Compensation. 
Law  case. 
The  Landlords 
r.  the  People. 


The  Land- 
lord's first  plea, 
"  The  land  is 
my  property." 


WHO  SHOULD  BE  HELD  MORALLY  RESPON- 
SIBLE TO  PROVIDE  COMPENSATION  IF 
NEEDED  ? 

309  We  are  not  sufficiently  sanguine  as  to 
allow  ourselves  to  suppose  that  landlords  will  be 
prevented  from  urging  claims  for  compensation 
by  any  considerations  which  we  have  urged  in 
the  last  chapter.    They  will  not  allow  themselves 
to  be  thus  estopped.  Whether  they  really  believe 
so  or  not,  they  will  doubtless  urge  that  the  pro- 
posed system  of  land  tenure  will  inflict  on  them 
great  injury,  and  that  they  are  entitled  to  receive 
compensation  from  the  State.      We  must,  there- 
fore (merely  for  the  sake  of  argument),  assume 
that  they  will  be  injured  to  some  extent,  and 
we  must  now  proceed  to  consider  whether  the 
fact  of  their  injury  being  admitted  or  proved  by 
evidence  is  sufficient  of  itself  to  entitle  them  to 
receive  compensation  from  the  State  as  an  equi- 
valent for  that  injury.     Let  us  suppose  the  case 
is  brought  to  the  adjudication  of  our  Supreme 
Court  of  Appeal — the  case  of  "  The  Landlords 
versus  The  People." 

310  We   should   perhaps   hear    the  landlord 
leading  off  the  argument  thus  : 

"  The  land  is  my  property,  just  as  my  coat 
or  my  house  is  my  property ;  manifestly  you 


WHO   TO   PROVIDE   COMPENSATION?      l8/ 


cannot  take  it  or  damage  it  without  being 
bound  to  compensate  me." 

This  is,  in  substance,  the  answer  which  Lady 
Matheson,  who  is  the  landlord  of  the  island  of 
Lewis,  gave  to  the  crofters  when  they  made  an 
appeal  to  her  to  regard  their  welfare  in  prefer- 
ence to  her  deer.  Of  course,  if  such  a  state- 
ment were  true,  if  the  right  to  own  the  house 
and  the  land  on  which  it  stands  are  really  on 
the  same  footing,  there  is  an  end  of  the  whole 
matter.  But  only  a  landlord  or  perhaps  a  land- 
lady could  have  so  argued,  and  the  Court 
would  smile  at  first  in  amazement,  and  then  in 
derision,  if  that  argument  were  uttered  in  its 
hearing. 

311  Then  the  landholder  might  perhaps  urge  : 
"  Admitting  that   I    have   no   better   inherent 
right  to    the  land  than   all    the   rest   of  the 
people,  yet  I  have   always  honestly  thought 
that  the  land  belonged   to   me    exclusively  ; 
and  upon  the  bond  fide  belief  that  that  was 
so,  I   have  laid  out  much  money  and  have 
laboured  the  best  part  of  my  lifetime." 

312  And  the  reply  of  the  Court  would  be  : 

"  You  are  compelled  to  admit  now  that  the 
land  is  not  really  yours  ;  what  you  may  have 
erroneously  thought,  and  what  you  may  have 
been  led  to  do  in  consequence,  cannot  pre- 
judice the  right  of  the  rightful  owners  to  the 
land." 


H  i  s  second 
plea,  ' '  I  have 
laid  out  much 
money  and 
labour  upon 
it."  Ib. 


The  reply  to 


be  supposed    ,His  thj,rd 

plea,       "The 
nation  has  en- 


313  Then   the  landlord  might 
to  plead  further  : 

"  The  nation   and  the  government   have  en- 
couraged people  to  buy  land  and  use  it  as  if  sideV  land  as 
it  were  their  absolute  property,  at  least  for  a 


pr°" 


iSS      THE   LAKD   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


couple  of  centuries  past.  I  had  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  this  was  not  a  true  theory  of  the 
case.  I  bought  this  land  relying  upon  this  view 
of  the  matter,  and  the  nation  cannot  now,  in 
common  decency,  treat  this  land  otherwise 
than  as  my  absolute  property." 

The  reply  to  314  The  judgment  of  the  Court  in  refer- 
ence to  this  argument  would  be,  probably  :  "  As- 
suming that  the  nation  and  the  government 
have  so  acted  (which  is  far  from  being  strictly 
true)  then  it  must  be  declared  that  the  men  who, 
acting  in  the  name  of  the  government,  presumed 
to  give  sanction  to  an  infraction  of  the  primary 
duty  of  the  government  to  guard  the  natural 
rights  of  all  the  people  from  infringement,  are 
to  be  condemned  as  being  in  error.  They  ex- 
ceeded their  authority,  and  you  cannot  have  ac- 
quired any  rights  even  as  against  the  govern- 
ment by  relying  on  their  precedents." 

315  The  landlord    will    then  perhaps    com- 
plain : 

"  When  I  bought  this  land,  nobody  knew  the 
law  as  to  natural  rights  and  functions  of 
government  to  be  such  as  the  Court  has  de- 
clared :  it  is  not  fair  that  I  should  be  made  the 
victim  of  discovery  as  to  what  the  law  is, — a 
discovery  made  after  I  paid  my  well-earned 
money  for  the  land." 

316  And  the  Court  will  again  reply  : 

"  If  the  law  is  not  declared  in  your  case,  no- 
bcdy  will  believe  the  law  is  so  and  we  should 
create  a  bad  precedent.  It  often  happens  that 
when  the  law  is  found  to  be  different  from 
what  before  it  was  understood  to  be,  that 
somebody  who  had  relied  on  the  wrong  under- 
standing suffers.  The  reports  of  the  decisions 


H  i  s  fourth 
plea,  that  he  is 
made  a  vic- 
tim of  a  dis- 
covery as  to 
what  the  law 
really  is. 


WHO   TO   PROVIDE   COMPENSATION?      1 89 


of  the  Courts  contain  many  such  cases  ;  the 
judges  are  tormented  by  the  hardships  to  the 
individual  before  them,  but  they  must  lay 
down  the  law  as  they  see  it  to  be,  for  their 
decision  will  affect  the  whole  community  for 
a  long  time.  Remember  there  are  others 
than  the  landlords  to  be  considered, — those 
others  who  now  have  no  land,  but  who  you 
admit,  have  as  good  a  title  as  you  have." 

317  And  so   the   Court   must  finally  render 
its  decision  in  accordance  with  the   principles  of 
the  common  law  that  the  land  belongs  to  the 
people,  and  that  the   claim  of  the  landlords  to 
compensation  for  its  resumption  is  invalid  and 
inadmissible. 

318  Possibly  the  Landlord   might  then  be 
disposed   to  think  he  would  fare  better   if  he 
could  be    allowed    to    plead  his  case  as  if  in 
Equity  rather  than  in  Law.     A  Court  of  Equity 
was  formerly  wont  in  many  matters  to  give  re- 
dress or  to  mitigate  a  hardship  which  the  court 
of  law  acknowledged  itself  unable  in  any  way  to 
relieve. 

319  Here  then  the  Landlord  would    plead 
that  he  had  inherited  his  land  from  his  ances- 
tors, who  had  for   several  generations  held  it  in 
possession  for  their  own  use  and  enjoyment,  and 
that  it  was  a  manifest  hardship  that  he  should 
be  prevented  from  continuing  to   do  the  same  ; 
that  he  and  his  children  after  him  had  desired 
nothing  but  what  had  been  permitted  to  his  an- 
cestors for  a  couple  of  centuries  at  least  practi- 
cally without  question  ;  and  that  he  himself  had 
in  no  way  abused  his    privileges  or  so  behaved 
himself  as  to  have  justly  forfeited  his  right  to  the 
continued    enjoyment    of    them.      Why     then 
should  the  State  now  step  in  and  eject  him  from 


The  decision 
of  the  Court 
against  the 
landlord's 
claims. 


A  n     appeal 
to  Equity. 


The  1  a  n  d- 
lord  relies  upon 
the  claims  of 
his  ancestors, 
and  his  inheri- 
tance  from 
them. 


190      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

his  position,  taking  from  him  so  much  to  which 
he  had  been  long  accustomed,  and  which  had 
become  now  so  essential  to  his  continued  com- 
fort and  happiness,  without  rendering  him  any 
compensation  therefor  ? 
Why  should  320  Now  all  this  doubtless  would  seem  to 

STtb?  peoJSe  form  a  very  Powerful  Plea  on  the  landlord's  be- 
and  the  claims  half,  and  would  make  the  action  of  the  State  in 
hethbotahnCsatisS  exPe^m&  mm  from  his  position  to  savour  of 
ficd  ?  '  great  cruelty  and  apparent  vindictiveness.  It  is 

deserving  therefore  of  a  careful  examination; 
The  Landlord  has  ceased  (we  may  suppose  in 
virtue  of  the  decision  of  the  Court  of  law)  any- 
more to  question  the  title  or  oppose  the  resump- 
tion of  the  land  by  the  people,  but  asks  only  why 
should  he  not  also  receive  compensation  for  the 
loss  of  that  of  which  the  State  deprives  him  in 
obedience  to  the  law's  demand  ? 
The  Advo-  321  The  Advocate  of  the  People  must  then 

PeoV  makes    make  rGPlY'       He    wil1  U1'Se  tllat  this  last  Plca    °f 

reply.  the  Landlord  introduces  a  new  element  into  the 

enquiry.  Basing  his  claims  on  the  fact  of  his 
inheritance  from  his  ancestors,  he  compels  the 
People's  Advocate  to  call  attention  to  the 
character  of  the  claims  of  those  ancestors  to 
the  land,  and  to  enquire  how  they  came  into 
possession  of  the  land  and  whether  their  own 
claims  to  its  possession  could  have  been  found 
valid  if  they  had  been  investigated  before  a 
just  and  impartial  tribunal. 

Necessary  to       322  It  would    then    be  recalled    how    those 
examine    the  ancestors  had    no    other  original    right    to    the 
ancestors'  exclusive  possession    of  their    lands   than    can 
claims  t  o  the  be  derived  from  conquest ;  that  they  had  after- 
wards continued  to  hold  them  as  they  had  first 
gained  them,  by  might  only  not  by  right ;  that 
their  original  estates  had  been  steadily  enlarged 


WHO   TO   PROVIDE   COMPENSATION  ?       Ipl 

by  pursuing  a  persistent  policy  of  taking  unfair 
advantage  of  the  weakness  of  their  neighbours  ; 
that  they  had  at  all  times  used  their  pre- 
ponderating influence  in  the  legislature  to 
give  legal  sanction  to  their  system  of  depreda- 
tions ;  that  they  had  appropriated  and  enclosed 
for  their  own  use  the  commonable  lands  and 
wastes  which  had  for  generations  previous 
been  recognised  as  belonging  to  the  whole 
community  ;  that  in  order  to  do  so,  they  had 
without  scruple  ejected  from  their  humble 
homes  the  settlers  who  were  entitled  to  gain 
a  scanty  though  independent  livelihood  from 
the  land,  and  had  caused  them  often  to  be 
degraded  and  branded  as  poachers  upon  the 
lands  from  which  they  had  been  driven  ;  that 
they  had  caused  poverty  and  precariousness 
of  livelihood  to  take  the  place  of  homely 
comfort  and  independence  in  the  labourer's 
household  ;  that  by  their  fencing  in  of  the  land 
and  divorcing  of  the  labourer  from  the  soil, 
they  had  brought  upon  the  millions  of  poor 
in  the  land  unnumbered  instances  of  unrecorded 
privations  and  want,  resulting  in  sickness  and 
suffering,  wasting  away  of  health  and  strength, 
and  premature  decay  and  death  ;  that  they 
had  built  up  their  prosperity  upon  the  adversity 
and  misfortunes  which  they  had  inflicted  upon 
thousands  of  those  whom  they  had  made  by 
their  selfish  policy  to  be  dependent  on  them  ; 
that  they  had  grown  rich  by  systematic  extor- 
tions of  large  proportions  of  the  earnings 
rightfully  belonging  to  labourers  and  that 
without  contributing  any  real  labour  on  their 
own  part  ;  that  they  had  used  the  hoards 
which  they  had  thus  collected  to  minister  to 
their  own  extravagance  and  luxury,  often 


192      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

heedless  of  the  misery  and  want  which  sur- 
rounded them  ;  that  instead  of  endeavouring 
to  relieve  the  distress  and  squalor  which  was 
so  largely  due  to  their  behaviour  they  were 
content  if  only  it  could  be  removed  to  some 
place  where  it  could  not  offend  the  fastidious- 
ness of  their  tastes,  or  perchance  excite  the 
compassion  of  their  eyes ;  that  they  have 
habitually  looked  down  with  pride  and  con- 
scious superiority  on  the  meanness  and  degrada- 
tion of  those  whom  they  have  depressed,  and 
frowned  and  trampled  upon  the  efforts  of  those 
who  would  endeavour  to  rise  and  escape  from 
their  oppression  ;  that  in  short  every  page  in 
the  history  of  landlords  in  the  past  furnishes  a 
record  of  the  injustice  of  their  conduct  to  the 
rest  of  the  people  ;  and  that  without  attempting 
to  consider  whether  the  present  existing  land- 
lords are  less  selfish  and  unjust  than  the  line  of 
their  predecessors,  it  is  manifest  that  they  are 
quite  unable,  even  if  they  were  ever  so  well- 
disposed,  to  undo  the  evils  which  have  resulted 
from  the  pernicious  system  of  the  past ;  that  in 
basing  their  claims  to  a  lenient  consideration 
upon  the  fact  of  their  inheritance  from  their 
ancestors,  they  must  perforce  be  accounted 
in  a  measure  responsible  for  the  many  misdeeds 
and  acts  of  injustice  which  their  forefathers 
committed,  and  of  which  the  present  landlords 
by  virtue  of  their  enjoyment  of  the  inheritance 
have  allowed  themselves  to  become  sharers  in 
and  to  benefit  by  ;  that  they  are  now  possessed 
of  immense  wealth  which  ought  rightly  to  have 
passed  as  rental  values  into  the  common  treasury 
in  past  years,  and  which  would  have  prevented 
the  growth  of  the  heavy  national  and  local  debts 
with  which  the  community  is  now  and  must 


WHO   TO   PROVIDE   COMPENSATION  ?      193 

continue  perhaps  for  generations  to  come  still 
burdened  ;  that  there  is  no  sufficient  evidence  to 
shew  that  they  will  be  really  injured  by  the  pro- 
posed change  which  they  so  affect  to  dread  ; 
that  if  indeed  they  should  be  injured  to  some 
extent,  they  would  still  possess  much  capital  in 
houses  and  personal  property,  and  would  remain 
more  than  sufficiently  wealthy  and  well  pro- 
vided for  ;  that  throughout  the  many  centuries 
during  which  the  landlords,  by  their  continuous 
policy  in  legislative  matters  and  by  their  repeated 
acts  of  oppression  and  spoliation  towards  their 
weaker  neighbours  and  dependents,  were  depriv- 
ing the  community  of  their  rights  in  the  land, 
there  is  no  single  instance  on  record  to  shew 
that  at  any  time  any  proposal  of  compensation 
emanated  from  them  for  the  benefit  and  relief  of 
those  whom  they  thus  disinherited  ;  that  even 
if  any  such  a  proposal  of  compensation  had  ever 
been  made,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it 
would  not  have  been  seriously  entertained  by 
them,  even  for  a  moment ;  that  even  if  the 
resumption  of  the  land  by  the  community  should 
involve  some  real  hardship  to  some  few  land- 
lords, it  could  yet  be  excused  as  being  only  a 
necessary  and  unavoidable  concomitant  in 
making  a  strictly  just  and  much  needed  and 
most  beneficial  change  for  all  other  members 
of  the  community,  whereas  the  wrongs  done 
by  landlords  to  the  community  had  been 
recklessly  and  ruthlessly  inflicted  for  their 
selfish  gains ;  that  there  is  in  fact  no  source 
from  which  compensation  to  landlords  could 
be  provided  except  at  the  expense  of  the 
community  which  has  been  for  so  many 
generations,  and  is  now  so  greatly  defrauded 
of  its  rights  by  the  landlords,  who  might 


194      TIIE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

rather,  if  strict  justice  were  to  be  insisted  on, 
be  called  on  to  refund  to  the  community  a 
large  portion  of  their  ill-gotten  gains ;  and 
finally,  that  to  impose  a  tax  on  the  com- 
munity's earnings  in  order  to  provide  compen- 
sation for  the  landlords  would  be  precisely 
equivalent  to  allowing  them  to  continue  to 
receive  the  rental  values  of  the  land,  only 
substituting  for  it  the  slightly  changed  form 
of  interest  on  debt,  and  thus  would  in  effect 
perpetuate  the  present  evils,  and  entirely 
nullify  the  beneficial  effects  which  the  change 
of  system  is  designed  to  produce. 

Would  not  the  landlord,  as  he  heard  all  this, 
and  much  more  which  might  be  urged  to  the 
same  effect,  be  constrained  to  adopt  the  words 
of  the  miserable  Shylock,  and  to  exclaim  : 

"  I  pray  you,  give  me  leave  to  go  from  hence, 
I  am  not  well.     Send  the  deed  after  me, 
And  I  will  sign  it." 

The  tables       323  Could   there   remain  any  doubt  in  the 
'uT^i  u?on   mind  of  any  one  as  to  what  the  decision  of  the 

the  landlords.  /  . 

Court  must  be  on  hearing  such  pleadings  in 
equity  ?  Would  it  not  be  made  manifest  that, 
instead  of  the  community  being  compelled  to 
provide  compensation,  it  is  the  community  that 
has  been  the  poor  suffering  victim  of  the  per- 
nicious landlord  system,  and  whose  accumulated 
wrongs,  so  long  borne  with  patient  endurance, 
would  justify  it  in  asking  and  fully  entitle  it  to 
receive  an  ample  compensation  from  those  who 
so  long  oppressed  them,  were  it  not  that  their 
oppressors  are  now  passed  beyond  where  the 
bar  of  any  earthly  tribunal  can  reach  them. 
And  would  it  not  justify  the  community  (if  it 
were  so  minded)  in  calling  upon  the  present 
landlords  as  trustees  and  executors,  and  now  the 


WHO   TO   PROVIDE   COMPENSATION  ?      195 


legatees  of  their  predecessors'  estates,  to  recover 
for  them  out  of  the  estates  as  they  now  exist 
an  equivalent  for  the  loss  and  damage  suffered 
by  it,  to  the  extent  that  would  be  certainly 
awarded  to  the  community  if  it  brought  suit 
against  the  landlords  in  any  impartial  court  of 
equity  ? 

324  We  do  not  need  to  enter  on  the  question  If  any  »»« 
of  the  direct  complicity  of  the  present  generation  edUfor  t^he  past 
of  landlords  in  inflicting  or  perpetuating  these  the  landlords 
wrongs  upon  the  community  in  our  own  genera-  "gafnstTife  i'r 
tion.  We  may  allow  it  to  be  said  without  ancestors, 
challenge  in  excuse  for  them  that  it  is  the 
system  not  the  individuals  that  should  be  blamed. 
We  only  point  out  that  if  they  will  persist  in  re- 
garding themselves  as  aggrieved  parties,  when 
ousted  from  their  present  privileges,  they  will 
perceive,  if  they  can  but  see  with  clear  eyes  and 
unbiassed  judgment,  that  it  is  their  forefathers' 
doings  that  have  been  the  ultimate  origin  of  any 
loss  which  may  now  befall  them,  and  upon  their 
ancestors,  therefore,  should  they  lay  the  blame 
of  their  now  occupying  an  untenable  position, 
and  to  them  should  they  look  for  compensation, 
if  they  will  really  continue  still  to  demand  it. 
When,  however,  they  recall  the  fact  that  they 
owe  all  that  they  have  hitherto  possessed 
and  all  that  they  will  be  permitted  now  to 
retain  to  their  ancestors'  steady  and  unwearying 
though  unscrupulous  and  unprincipled  efforts  in 
building  up  and  enlarging  their  estates  ;  and 
when  they  remember  also  the  extraordinary 
pains  and  care  they  took,  and  the  ingenious 
legal  devices  which  they  invented  in  order  to 
secure  their  perpetuation  for  the  benefit  and  en- 
joyment of  their  children  and  descendants  from 
generation  to  generation,  and  to  prevent  the 

I3* 


196      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


It  is  the  sys- 
tem mainly 
that  is  now 
responsible  for 
the  evils,  not 
so  much  the 
individual 
landlotds. 


Some  noble 
exceptions 
among  1  a  n  d- 
lords. 


possibility  of  any  portion  of  the  estates  slipping 
back  into  the  hands  of  the  community  from 
whom  they  had  wrested  them,  why  surely  the 
present  landlords  must  be  constrained  to  extend 
a  forgiveness  to  their  ancestors,  as  having  at  least 
intended  kindly  towards  them,  though  to  them 
truly  must  now  be  traced  the  origin  of  their 
present  impending  loss  and  disappointment. 

325  In    bringing  our  task  to  its   conclusion 
it  is  fitting  to  say  some  word  respecting  landlords 
as  individuals.     It  may  be  thought  that  in  some 
of   our  remarks  we   have   passed   some   severe 
strictures  upon  the  behaviour  of  landlords  in  the 
past.     This  we  must  admit  is  true.     We  have, 
however,  in  so  doing,  referred  to  them  as  a  class, 
and   not  individually,  and    the    faults  we  have 
attributed  to  them  we  recognise  now  as  having 
been  long  inherent  in  an  oppressive  and  unjust 
system,  and  for  which  the  present  generation  of 
landlords  is,  comparatively  speaking,  only  in  a 
small  measure  responsible.  It  is  their  misfortune 
that  they  should  have  inherited  an  utterly   un- 
tenable position,  gained  by  their  forefathers  by 
indefensible  means,  and  unscrupulous  trampling 
on  the  rights  of  the  weaker  elements  of  the  com- 
munity ;  and  no  benevolence  or  well-intentioned 
purposes  of  individual  landlords  at  this  day  can 
any  longer  avail  to  hide  the  robbery  and  op- 
pression, and    oft-times  naked  brutality,  which 
marked  the  origin  of  their  claims  and  the  history 
of  their  holding  ;    nor  can  they   in  any  degree 
reconcile  the  masses  who  are  the  victims  of  this 
system  of  oppression  to  its  longer  continuance. 

326  This   should    not,   however,   prevent   us 
from  recognising  the  many  noble  instances  of 
landlords  who  have  risen  superior  to  the  noxious 
influences  of  their  .environment,  and  have  used 


WHO   TO   PROVIDE   COMPENSATION  ?      197 

their  influence  and  power  to  do  good  and  to 
benefit  those  whose  unfortunate  circumstances 
and  pitiable  condition  excited  their  sympathy 
and  compassion,  and  aroused  them  to  make 
chivalrous  efforts  to  bring  about  some  ameliora- 
tion of  their  miseries.  Such  a  life  of  Christian 
philanthropy,  aiming  to  relieve  the  sufferings 
and  hardships  of  the  poor,  was  that  of 
the  late  Lord  Shaftesbury  within  living 
memory. 

327  And  we  do  not  yet  despair  of  finding  The  appeal 
amongst  living  landlords  some  who  will  exhibit  fafe?  land- 
a  true  nobility  of  character,  and  reveal  to  the 
world  a  capacity  for  judging  honestly  and  im- 
partially of  their  position  in  reference  to  the 
community,  in  spite  of  their  own  personal 
interests  being  involved,  which  shall  lead  them 
to  remember  and  act  upon  the  golden  rule  "  Do 
unto  others  as  ye  would  have  them  do  to  you." 
When  once  they  shall  have  permitted  the  un- 
welcome and  unpalatable  truth  to  find  an 
entrance  into  their  minds,  and  to  make  a  per- 
manent lodgment  among  the  better  impulses  of 
their  hearts,  there  will  be  begotten  in  some  of 
them,  let  us  hope,  an  irresistible  conviction,  an 
all-compelling  power,  urging  them  to  follow  in 
the  self-sacrificing  path  of  duty,  and  to  lead  the 
people  onward  in  the  great  impending  struggle 
for  the  land  that  is  now  seen  to  be  inevitably 
approaching.  A  revolutionary  epoch  it  must 
certainly  be ;  but  whether  the  struggle  be  won 
by  peaceful  methods  and  praiseworthy  per- 
severance in  lawful  agitation,  or  whether  it  be 
by  arousing  angry  and  hateful  passions,  leading 
perhaps  to  civil  strife  and  bloody  war,  depends 
on  them  and  their  attitude  more  than  on  any 
others. 


198      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

The  hour  and  328  Surely  there  is  now  an  opportunity  for 
ftre*'rK>w  !u  some  noble  hearts  amongst  landlords  to  kindle  a 
hand.  flame  of  lofty  patriotism  amongst  their  fellows 

which  shall  light  up  with  a  celestial  halo  the 
expiring  days  of  this  giant  of  bygone  times,  and 
cause  a  grateful  posterity  in  time  to  come, 
looking  back  upon  the  history  of  this  landlord 
system  inherited  from  barbaric  days,  and  trans- 
mitted to  us  through  all  the  gloom  and  darkness 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  to  declare  that  no  chapter 
in  its  long  annals  was  so  illustrious  in  its  noble 
names,  and  no  deeds  done  in  all  the  plenitude 
of  its  power,  so  worthy  to  be  remembered  and 
held  up  to  the  admiration  of  future  ages  as 
those  which  marked  the  closing  years  of  its 
existence,  and  the  last  days  of  its  transition,  as 
it  passed  into  a  new  and  glorious  era,  whose 
characteristic  feature  shall  be  the  universal 
recognition  of  the  everlasting  dogma  that  pro- 
claims for  every  human  creature  equally  and 
alike  "  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Brother- 
hood of  Man." 


BOOK   III. 


STATISTICS 


SUMMARY   OF   CONTENTS    OF   BOOK    III. 


PARAGRAPH 

Explanation          .....     329 

Area   ......  330 

Population  .  .  .  .  .  331 

National  Revenue      ....  332 

National  Expenditure      ....  333 

National  Taxation     ....  334 

Customs   ......  335 

Public  Income  and  Expenditure  since  1800  336 

Trade       ......  337 

Railways'        .....  338 

Income  Tax  Assessments  .  .  .  339 

Local  Taxation  and  Expenditure      .  .  340 

Cost  of  the  Monarchy      .  .  .  .341 

National  Debt  ....  342 

Wars  since  1848  .....  343 

War  Burdens  of  Europe        .  .  .  344 

Land  Tax  .....  345 

Landholders  .....  346 

Rent         .  .  .  .  .  .347 

Agriculture     .....  348 

Tithe-Rent  Charge  ....  349 

Glebe  Lands  .....  350 

Hospital  Collections        .  .  .  .  351 

Trade  Unions  .  .  .  .  352 

Co-operation        .  .  .  .  •  353 

Ten  Years  (1877-1887)  in  England  and  Wales  354 

The  Depression  of  Trade     .  .  .  355 


STATISTICS. 

329  We    append   here,  for   the    purpose   of     Explanation, 
reference  some  statistics  which  may  be  helpful 

to  the  reader,  in  the  course  of  his  perusal  of  the 
book.  Most  of  them  are  taken  from  the 
Almanacs  for  1888,  but  some  are  added  from 
other  sources.  The  figures  are  usually  given  in 
round  numbers  only,  for  the  sake  of  clearness  of 
conception  and  comparison.  Usually  they  are 
expressed  in  millions  and  fractions  of  a  million. 
The  letter  "  m  "  is  sometimes  used  as  an  abbre- 
viation for  "  millions." 

AREA. 

330  The  area   of  the  British  Isles  is  about      Area 
121    thousand  square    miles;    of  England   and 
Wales  58,  Scotland  30  and  Ireland  32. 

In  acres,  we  have  in  the  British  Isles  77^4  m.; 
in  England  and  Wales  37^  m.,  Scotland  19  m. 
and  Ireland  20%^  m. 

POPULATION. 

331  The  population  of  the  United  Kingdom      Population. 
is  now  about  37^3  m.     In  England  and  Wales, 

26,   in  Scotland   3^   m.  and   in    Ireland    5    m. 
according  to  the  census  of  1881. 
Every  year  400,000  is  added. 


202      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


N  a  t  i  o  n  a 
Revenue. 


National 
Expenditure. 


National 
Taxation. 


The  emigration  ranges  from  about  300  thou- 
sand to  400  thousand  a  year,  of  whom  about  ^ 
proceed  to  the  United  States,  the  other  half 
to  the  Colonies. 

NATIONAL  REVENUE. 

332  For  the  year  ending  March  3ist,  1887. 
The  total  revenue  is  91  millions. 

It  is  made  up  thus: — Customs  20,  Excise  25, 
Death  Duties  7^,  Stamps  4^,  Land  Tax  i, 
House  Duty  2,  Income  Tax  16,  Post  Office  8^, 
Telegraphs  2,  Crown  Lands  ^,  Interest  on 
Loans  and  Suez  Canal  i,  Miscellaneous  3. 

NATIONAL  EXPENDITURE. 

333  For  the  year  ending  March  3ist,  1887. 
The  total  expenditure  is  about  90  millions. 
The    non-producing    items    comprise    about 

80  millions  of  it,  being  Interest  on  National  Debt 
28,  Army  18  and  Navy  13,  together  31,  Civil 
List  1 8,  Miscellaneous  i^. 

The  other  items  are  for  the  collection  and 
management  of  the  Revenue,  for  Customs  i, 
Inland  Revenue  2,  Post  Office  5^,  Telegraphs 
2,  Packet  Service  ^  of  a  million. 

NATIONAL  TAXATION. 

334  That  part  of  the  Revenue  of  the  United 
Kingdom  that  is  raised  by  taxation  amounts  to 
about  76  millions.     More  than  half  of  the  gross 
revenue  of  91  millions  is  raised  by  customs  and 
excise  duties  on  articles  of  general  and  common 
consumption. 

Thus,  from  Customs  duties  on  Tobacco,  9^  ; 
Tea,  Coffee,  Chicory  and  Cocoa,  4^  ;  Spirits,  4  ; 
Wines,  i£;  Fruit,  ^.  Total,  20. 

From  Excise  duties  on  Spirits,  14;  Railways, 
*/j  ;  Beer,  8%  ;  Licenses,  3.  Total,  26. 


STATISTICS.  2O3 

Thus  from  Customs  and  Excise  together,  we 
obtain  from  Spirits,  17;  Tobacco,  9^  ;  Beer, 
8^  ;  Tea,  4^  ;  from  Wine,  i£ ;  and  other 
duties  making  a  total  of  46  millions. 

The  taxation  per  head,  per  annum,  is  in  Eng- 
land and  Wales  £2  2s.  ^d.\  in  Scotland,  £2  $s.  yd. ; 
and  in  Ireland,  £i  i  is.  3^. 

CUSTOMS. 

335  These  are  simple  import  duties  collected      Customs, 
on  cocoa,  coffee,  chicory,  tea  and   fruit,  and  on 
tobacco  and  wine.     In  order  to  countervail  the 

excise  duties,  customs  dues  are  collected  also 
on  beer  and  on  various  kinds  of  spirits.  To 
countervail  the  stamp  duties,  customs  are  col- 
lected on  gold  and  silver  plate,  and  on  playing 
cards,  &c. 

Out  of  one  shilling  paid  over  the  counter,  the 
tax  is  as  follows  :  for  Cocoa,  I  Y^d.;  Coffee,  2^d.; 
Currants,  ^Y^d.',  Raisins,  2.yzd.\  Tea,  6d.;  Wine, 
$d.  Also  for  one  shilling's  worth  of  spirits  we  have 
to  pay  3-r.  6d.,  and  for  one  shilling's  worth  of 
tobacco,  5-y.  $d. 

336  PUBLIC   INCOME  AND  EXPENDITURE     Public  in- 

come  and   t,x- 

SINCE    I5OO  penditure  since 

1800. 

Total  Income  m.  m. 

Customs  1,700 1 

Excise  i  ,900  ) 

(This  is  the  total  burden    on  Trade, 
Industry,  and  the  Poor.) 

Other  sources  2,100 

5,700 


204      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

Total  Expenditure.  m.  m. 

Interest  on  Debt  2,420  \ 

Army  1,410  [-  4,720 

Navy  880  J 

(This  is  the  total  for  War  debt  and  War.) 
Civil  Services  1,150 

5,870 


Excess  of  expenditure  over  income  about  i/o 
millions. 

Thus  to  every  £  of  income  customs  and 
excise  gave  I2s.  7%V. 

Thus  to  every  £  of  expenditure  war  took 
i6s.  o^d.  leaving  4.3.  for  every  other  purpose. 

The  gross  revenue  in  1887  from  taxes  proper 
{i.e.  excluding  post  office,  telegraphs,  crown 
lands,  interest  and  loans,  and  miscellaneous) 
was  76  millions,  and  customs  and  excise  con- 
tributed 45  of  it. 

TRADE. 

337  For  the  year  1 886,  the  real  value  of  the 
merchandise  imported  was  35001.,  being  at  the 
rate  of  £g}4  per  head  of  the  population. 

The  value  of  the  British  produce  exported 
was  212  millions,  being  at  the  rate  of  £5^4. 
per  head.  There  was  also  foreign  and  colonial 
produce  re-exported  to  the  amount  of  56  m. 
making  the  total  of  exports  268m. 

Hence  we  see  the  total  value  of  the  trade, 
imports  and  exports,  was  618  m.,  being  nearly 
£17  per  head  of  population. 

The  capital  of  the  United  Kingdom  has 
been  estimated  at  10,000  m.,  and  the  national 


STATISTICS.  205 

income  at  1,200  m.  For  the  United  States,  the 
amounts  are  7,000  m.,  and  1,500  m.  respect- 
ively. 

RAILWAYS. 

333  The  total  sum  invested  is  828  m.,  and      Railways. 
the  mileage  about  20,000  miles.     The  receipts 
for  passengers  are  30,  and  for  freight  36,  total 
receipts  70  m. 

The  working  expenses  are  36^  m.,  and  the 
net  receipts  33.  The  net  receipts  vary  in  pro- 
portion to  the  paid-up  capital  from  4  to  4^  per 
cent. 

The  London  and  North  Western  has  about 
io5  m.  invested,  and  the  Midland  81  m. 

INCOME-TAX  ASSESSMENTS. 
339  The  annual  value  assessed  under  the  five    ,  income  Tax 

,       ,    ,        .  ,-  ,,  Assessments. 

schedules  is  as  follows  : — 

Schedule  A.  Lands.  Tenements,  Tithes  not 
Commuted,  Manors,  Fines,  &c.,  200  m. 

Schedule  B.  Occupation  of  Land,  Tene- 
ments and  Hereditaments,  63  m. 

Schedule  C.  Annuities  and  Dividends  from 
Public  Revenue,  42  m. 

Schedule  D.  Professions,  Trades,  Railways, 
Canals,  Mines,  Gas,  Waterworks,  300  m. 

Schedule  E.  Pensions,  Salaries  from  Public 
Offices,  40  m. 

Total  Annual  Value  Assessed,  630  m. 


Each  penny  in  the  £,  would  produce  about 
2^3  m.,  or  £2,625,000,  except  that  Schedule  B 
is  taxed  at  a  lower  rate  than  the  others,  and 
there  are  some  other  reductions. 


2O6      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


LOCAL  TAXATION  AND  EXPEND- 
ITURE. 

RECEIPTS. 

Local  Taxa-  340  From    Rates      (including     Gas     and 

pe°nnditunre.  ]  Water)  38  m.,  Government  contributions  4^, 

from   Loans    13,  and  other  sources  making  a 
total  of  67  m. 

Of    this   total   there   belongs   to    England 
and  Wales  55,  to  Scotland  7^,  and  to  Ireland 


EXPENDITURE. 

For  Poor  Relief  12,  School  Boards  6^, 
Police,  Sanitary  Matters,  &c.,  in  Towns  33,  in 
Counties  7,  Harbours  5,  making  a  total  of 
67  m. 

The  indebtedness  of  cities,  counties,  and 
other  local  divisions  now  exceeds  200  m.  In 
1875  the  outstanding  loans  of  local  authori- 
ties were  about  93  m  ;  in  1886  they  had 
grown  to  nearly  double  that  amount,  being 
181  m.,  and  in  1888  Mr.  Goschen  transferred 
26^2  rn.  from  the  national  liabilities  to  the 
total  of  local  debt. 

COST  OF  MONARCHY. 

Cost  of  the  34i  During  the  reigns  of  George  III.  and 
George  IV.,  from  1760  to  1830,  a  period  of  70 
years,  the  cost  of  monarchy  amounted  to  100  m. 
William  IV.'s  reign  averaged  a  million  a  year. 

Queen  Victoria's  Civil  List  was  settled  in 
1837  at  £385,000  a  year.  The  President  of  the 
United  States  receives  £10,000  a  year,  and  a 
residence.  The  President  of  the  French  Re- 
public receives  £24,000  and  his  household  ex- 


STATISTICS. 


(207 


penses.     The  President  of  Switzerland  receives 
£600  per  annum. 

The  cost  of  the  Monarchy  during  the  present 
reign,  from  1837  to  1887  may  be  estimated 
thus : — 

Cost  of  1 6  individuals  of  the  Royal  Family, 
now  deceased,  10  m. 

Cost  of  1 1  individuals  of  the  Royal  Family, 
surviving,  4*^  m. 

Queen's    Civil     List,     £385,000   for    50 
years  =  19^ 

Duchies     of    Lancaster    and     Cornwall 
Revenues  i^  ^29 

Royal  Yachts  I 

Windsor  Castle  and  Buckingham  Palace 

7 

Thus,  adding  27  individuals,  our  Royal 
Family  have  cost  over  40  millions,  and  if  the 
maintenance  of  some  of  the  private  parks,  &c., 
be  included,  the  cost  will  amount  to  50  millions, 
that  is,  on  an  average,  one  million  a  year. 


NATIONAL  DEBT. 

342  In    1688,  the   year   of    the    Revolution,      National 
when  William  III.  was  called  to  the  throne,  the   l 
National  Debt  was  incorporated  at  £%  m.      At 
accession  of   Anne,  it  was  I2m. ;    of  George  I. 
36    m.  ;     George     II.    52;    George    III.     IO2  ; 
George   IV.   834  ;    William   IV.  784 ;    Victoria 
787.     It  is  now,  in  1887,  738  millions,  shewing  a 
decrease  in   the  last  50   years  of  about   50  m., 
that  is,  about  a  million  a  year. 

It  is  interesting,  also,  to  note  its  growth  and 
magnitude  at  the  close  of  the  different  wars 
since  the  Revolution.  After  Marl  borough's 


2O8      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

wars  it  stood,  in  1714,  at  36  m. ;  after 
the  wars  of  George  I.  and  George  II.'s  reigns, 
terminating  in  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  it 
stood,  in  1748,  at  78.  After  the  Seven  Years' 
War  it  stood,  in  1763,  at  133.  After  the  Ame- 
rican War  of  Independence  it  stood,  in  1783,  at 
273.  After  the  wars  with  Napoleon,  closing 
with  Waterloo,  it  stood,  in  1815,  at  900  m.  This 
growth,  it  should  be  noted,  was  in  spite  of  the 
sums  paid  off  during  the  intervening  years  of 
peace. 

It  is  to  be  noted,  also,  that  the  actual  capital 
of  British  Debt  does  not  represent,  by  any 
means,  the  sums  really  received  by  the  State. 
During  the  past  and  the  early  years  of  the  pre- 
sent century,  enormous  sums  were  borrowed  at 
a  price  far  below  par,  the  difference  adding 
many  millions  to  the  actual  burden  of  the 
debt. 

The  interest  per  head  of  population  of  the 
British  debt  is  now  1 $s.  2d. ;  in  Russia  it  is 
75.  6d. ;  in  United  States  y. ;  in  Australia 
31.?.  gd.,  and  in  Egypt  iSs.  ^d. 

Professor  Foxwell  has  shewn  that  by  the  fall 
in  the  value  of  money  since  1873,  this  enormous 
debt  of  740  m.  has  been  practically  increased  in 
its  weight  on  the  community,  25  per  cent.  The 
effect  is  the  same  as  if  some  i8om.  of  fresh 
debt  had  been  incurred. 


WARS  SINCE  1848. 

since  343  With  the  exception  of  the  Indian 
Mutiny,  these  were  wars  of  offence  more  than 
defence.  Their  cost  is  beyond  calculation,  but 
if  we  estimate  the  war  votes  only  (deducting 
cost  of  peace  footing)  and  exclude  the  increases 


STATISTICS. 


209 


of  Debt  charge,  Half  Pay  and  Pensions,  we  may 
still  see  how  national  money  goes. 


1848-53  Kaffir  War 
1854-56  Crimean  War         . 
1856-61  Second  China  War 
1856-57  Persian  . 

1864-65  New  Zealand 
1866-68  Abyssinian  . 

1874-75  Ashantee 
1879-80  Zulu  and  Transvaal 
1880        Griqualand 
1883         Egyptian  . 

Vote    to  India    on 
War  Account 

Soudan  (Gordon  Relief) 


cost  2m. 
„     70 
„       7 


Afghan 


Total  104  m. 


WAR  BURDENS  OF  EUROPE. 

War  burdens 

344  Estimate    for   January  ist,   1887.     Ex-  of  Eur°Pe- 
pressed  in  millions. 


o 

•o 

c 

"5   . 

3 

>> 

0  0. 

-g 

•E 

o 

1 

rt 

^  ° 

'£ 

to 

1 

<B 

3 

3 

•gw 

D 

< 

O 

os 

H 

Population  . 

35 

40 

38 

47 

30 

104 

381 

Standing  Army 

1% 

% 

]/z 

9 

i 

4 

StandingArmy  and  Reserves 

TZT 

I 

3% 

2^ 

2% 

3X 

17 

Annual  Expenditure 

92 

97 

147 

128 

68 

130 

773 

Army  and  Navy  Estimates 

39 

14 

34 

22 

14 

37 

187 

Interest  on  National  Debt 

23 

23 

50 

15 

21 

39 

200 

National  Debt    . 

748 

523 

i,435 

4OO 

450600 

4,862 

2IO      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


LAND  TAX. 

Land  Tax.  345  Since  1798  the  Land  Tax  of  4  shillings 
in  the  pound  has  been  fixed  at  the  amount  of 
^"2,037,627.  About  ,£50,000  of  this  is  collected 
from  land  in  Scotland,  the  remainder  from 
England  and  Wales.  The  total  amount  of 
land  tax  which  has  been  redeemed  is  about 
^860,000  leaving  an  amount  still  unredeemed 
of  less  than  ;£  1,200,000,  which  is  the  sum  now 
collected  annually. 

The  annual  value  of  lands  as  given  in  the 
Income  Tax  Assessment,  Schedule  A,  is  for 
England  151  m.,  for  Wales  6  m.,  and  for 
Scotland  20  m.,  making  a  total  of  177  m.  The 
land  tax  of  2  m.,  is  therefore  on  an  average 
of  only  3d.  in  the  pound  on  this  total. 

If  to  the  total  assessment  in  Schedule  A,  we 
add  the  annual  value  of  quarries,  mines,  rail- 
ways, &c.,  charged  under  Schedule  D,  estimated 
at  one  half  the  amounts  assessed,  that  is  27  m., 
we  obtain  a  total  of  204  millions.  If  we  calcu- 
lated the  amount  of  the  Land  Tax  on  this 
sum  at  45.  in  the  £,  it  would  be  41  m.,  instead 
of  which  it  is  only  2  m. 

The  present  product  of  imperial  taxes 
on  land,  as  distinguished  from  houses,  build- 
ings, tithes,  &c.,  cannot  be  estimated  with 
accuracy  (no  distinction  being  drawn  in  the 
statistics  of  the  Land  Tax  and  Death  Duties) 
and  we  are  therefore  compelled  to  state  the 
totals  derived  from  these  classes  as  a  whole. 
We  have,  therefore  these  items.  Income  Tax 
Schedule  A  at  8d.  in  the  £,  gives  6  m.  Annual 
value  of  quarries,  mines,  railways,  &c.  I  m., 


STATISTICS.  211 

Land  Tax  2  in.,  Inhabited  House  Duty  2  m., 
Succession  Duty  I  m.,  Legacy  Duty  I  m.,  Crown 
Lands  y2  m.,  making  a  total  of  13  m.  Taking 
the  gross  annual  value  of  the  properties  subject 
to  the  above  duties  at  204  m.,  this  is  equal  to  a 
tax  of  is.  3d.  in  the  £. 

LANDHOLDERS. 

346  No  reliable  returns  of  the  number  of  Landholders, 
landholders,  of  the  extent  of  their  holdings,  or 
of  their  annual  rental  value  have  yet  been  ob- 
tained. The  Domesday  Book  of  1874  is  acknow- 
ledged to  be  incomplete  and  untrustworthy.  It 
excludes  returns  of  the  metropolis,  and  omits 
the  vast  area  of  woods,  plantations,  wastes  and 
unenclosed  commons  over  which  manorial 
rights  extend,  and  it  also  classes  leaseholders 
for  99  years  or  more  as  landowners.  Its  results 
must  therefore  be  received  with  caution.  From 
it,  it  appeared  that  (excluding  plots  of  under 
one  acre) 

y^  of  total  acreage  is  held  by  1,200  owners, 
averaging  16,200  acres  each  ; 

Another  ^  of  total  acreage  is  held  by  6,200 
owners,  averaging  3,150  acres  each  ; 

Another  ^  of  total  acreage  is  held  by  50,770 
owners,  averaging  380  acres  each  ; 

Remaining  ^  of  total  acreage  is  held  by 
261,380  owners,  averaging  70  acres  each. 

There  are  1 2  landowners  who,  together,  own 
4^  m.  acres.  The  Peers,  in  number  about  600, 
hold  rather  more  than  -£-  of  all  the  land  in  the 
kingdom.  We  see  also  that  ]/?,  of  the  whole 
territory  is  in  the  hands  of  only  7,400  indivi- 
duals; the  other  half  is  divided  among  312,500 
individuals. 

14* 


212      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

Its  totals  shew  that  in  England  and  Wales 
about  one  million  landowners  hold  33  millions  of 
acres  at  a  rental  or  valuation  of  £100  m.  and 
that  in  Scotland  and  Ireland  200  thousand  land- 
owners hold  40  millions  of  acres  at  a  rental  of 
^32  m.  As  regards  the  United  Kingdon,  then, 
we  have  I  3-  m.  landowners  holding  72  m.  acres 
at  a  rental  of  £132  m.,  leaving  the  metropolis 
&c.  out  of  account. 

As  regards  England  and  Wales  only,  we  find 
that  280  persons  own  about  ^  of  all  the  en- 
closed land,  523  own  about  £,710  about  ^  and 
10,000  own  about  2/$. 

Comparing  these  results  with  those  relating  to 
continental  countries,  we  may  remark  that  in 
Prussia  800,000  day  labourers  own  land,  cultiv- 
ating vegetables  and  fruit ;  in  Belgium,  having 
an  area  of  less  than  J-  of  England  and  Wales, 
there  are  more  than  a  million  landowners  ;  and 
in  France  there  are  5  m.  proprietors  averaging 
7\  acres  each,  and  yz  m.  averaging  75  acres. 

The  indebtedness  of  English  landed  gentry 
(by  way  of  mortgage  and  otherwise)  has  been 
estimated  at  £250  m. 

The  losses  of  farmers'  capital  during  the  years 
1875-1883  are  estimated  at  ;£i5om. 

Sir.  James  Caird  has  estimated  that  for  the 
last  30  years  the  landlords  have  expended  on 
their  agricultural  land  at  the  rate  of  £,2  millions 
per  annum,  a  large  portion  of  which  was  for  mere 
renewal  of  buildings,  roads  and  drains,  and  as 
the  total  rental  of  these  lands  is  67  millions,  it 
appears  that  the  total  sum  spent  in  30  years  on 
improvements  is  less  than  one  year's  rental. 
The  capital  value  of  the  soil  of  the  United  King- 
dom is  estimated  at  ^2,000  m. 

In  reference  to  the  subject  of  "enclosures," 


STATISTICS.  213 

we  may  note  that  between  1845  and  1877 
nearly  600,000  acres  of  common  and  common- 
able  land  had  been  partitioned  among  26,000 
separate  owners,  on  an  average  proportion  of 
44^  acres  to  each  lord  of  the  manor,  24  to  each 
owner  of  common  rights,  and  10  to  each  pur- 
chaser of  land  sold  to  cover  part  of  the  expenses 
where  they  were  not  wholly  raised  by  rates.  Of 
course  the  allotments  received  by  lords  of 
manors  620  in  number,  mostly  contributed  to 
swell  the  acreage  of  large  estates,  and  even  those 
received  by  the  22,000  common-right  owners 
would  often  form  appendages  to  existing  free- 
holds. But  it  may  fairly  be  presumed  that  of 
the  3,500  purchasers  among  whom  the  residue 
of  35,450  acres  was  distributed,  chiefly  in  small 
lots,  a  large  proportion  became  landowners  for 
the  first  time. 

RENT 

347  "About  1850,  Mr.  Porter  estimated  Rent- 
that  with  scarcely  any  exception  the  revenue 
drawn  in  form  of  rent  has  been  at  least  doubled 
in  every  part  of  Great  Britain  since  1790.  The 
rent  of  cultivated  land  per  acre  which  in  1770 
averaged  but  i$s.  reached  27^.  in  1850,  and  30^. 
in  1878.  The  income  tax  returns  show  this 
cultivated  '  land '  of  England  and  Wales 
assessed  at  44  ^  millions  of  pounds  in  1863, 
and  at  52  millions  in  1877.  The  annual  value  of 
lands  alone  in  1814,  was  37  millions  and  in  1868 
47^4  rnilHons.  A  progressive  and  continuous 
rise  in  rental  of  land  has  taken  place  within  the 
last  20  or  30  years  preceding  1880,  though 
checked  in  1878-9  by  effects  of  bad  seasons. 
The  increase  of  rent  in  England  and  Wales 
alone  between  1857  and  1875  is  nearly  9 


214      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

millions  according  to  income  tax  returns. 
The  landed  interest  of  England  is  estimated  to 
have  received  a  sum  exceeding  the  national 
revenues  from  railway  companies  alone  over  and 
above  the  market  price  of  the  land  thus  sold. 
One  nobleman  is  known  to  have  received  ^  of 
a  million  sterling  for  the  mere  site  of  docks 
constructed  by  the  enterprise  of  others.  The 
soil  of  England  may  have  little  more  than 
doubled  its  agricultural  rental  in  a  century,  but 
it  must  assuredly  be  worth  many  times  its  value 
in  the  days  of  our  great  grandfathers,  if  we  in- 
clude in  the  calculation  all  the  land  which  then 
sold  by  the  acre  and  now  sells  by  the  yard." 

New  leases  recently  made  of  Crown  lands  in 
Piccadilly  and  Piccadilly  Circus  shew  that  in 
the  last  2 1  years  property  has  increased  in  value 
from  80  to  100  per  cent. 

Mr.  Samuel  Laing  M.P.  shewed  that  landlords 
have  received  50  m.  over  market  value  from  the 
people  through  Railway  Companies'  purchases. 
Their  landed  estates  have  been  increased  there- 
by 150  m.  in  value,  not  to  speak  of  the  relief 
afforded  by  the  large  share  of  local  taxation 
borne  by  these  railways,  estimated  at  one-half. 

Thus  we  may  compare  the  per-centages  paid  in 
1814  with  that  in  1884. 

In  1814.  In  1884. 

Land    paid          69  per  cent.  23  per  cent. 

Houses     „  28         „  53 

Railways  „  o         „  14        „ 

Other  property     3         „  10        „ 

In  the  Channel  Islands,  under  a  free  system 
and  peasant  proprietary,  the  average  rent  of 
middling  land  has  risen  to  £4.  and  £6  an  acre. 
In  Switzerland  it  is  at  about  the  same  figure. 


STATISTICS.  2 1 5 

But  in  England  $os.  would  be  a  fair  and  rather 
high  rent. 

The  rental  value  of  all  the  land  in  the  United 
Kingdom  (as  gathered  from  the  schedules  of  the 
Income  Tax  assessment),  is  about  204  millions 
per  annum,  that  is,  nearly  £28  per  annum  for 
every  family,  supposing  it  to  consist  of  the 
average  of  five  persons. 

The  value  of  all  the  land  in  London  is  about 
418  m.,  and  of  the  buildings,  212  m.  The  taxes 
on  the  land  in  London  amount  to  half-a  million  ; 
the  taxes  on  the  buildings  to  7  millions. 

If  a  man  pays  4^.  for  rent,  he  pays  to  the 
builder  is.,  to  the  landlord  2s.,  and  for  rates  and 
taxes  is. 

The  rateable  value  of  the  Metropolis  within 
City  limits  was,  in  1801,  }4  million,  in  1856,  i^ 
m.,  and  in  1884  had  increased  to  3^  m. 

The  inhabited  house  duty  is  collected  on 
houses  not  below  £20  a  year  rental.  The 
number  of  houses  assessed  in  1882  was,  in 
England  and  Wales,  I  m.,  unassessed,  4  m.  Of 
the  latter,  3  m.  were  even  below  a  ^10  limit. 

The  population  of  New  York  City  is  now  about 
i  }4  rn-,  and  its  present  annual  rental  value  of 
the  bare  land,  without  including  the  buildings 
on  it,  is  about  20  m. 

AGRICULTURE. 

348  It  has  recently  been  stated  in  Parlia- 
ment that  there  are  700  thousand  persons  now 
idle  owing  to  paralysis  of  agriculture. 

America  exported  breadstuff's  to  England  last 
year  worth  32  millions  of  pounds,  and  provisions 
worth  20  millions. 

Last  year  (1887)  England  imported  butter, 
cheese,  living  animals  for  food,  eggs,  lard, 


2l6      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

potatoes,  poultry  and  game  and  vegetables  to  the 
value  of  about  27  millions  of  pounds,  all  of  which 
it  might  have  been  supposed  could  have  been 
produced  at  home  under  improved  conditions  as 
to  the  land.  She  also  imported  corn,  etc.,  to 
the  value  of  46  millions,  and  meat,  14  millions. 

The  following  table  shows  the  amount  of  the 
annual  consumption  of  agricultural  produce  in  the 
United  Kingdom,  in  millions  of  cwts. 


Home 
Growth. 

Foreign. 

Total 
Amount. 

Corn         .... 

177 

136 

313 

Potatoes  --.- 

III 

9 

120 

Wool       .... 

iX 

3X 

4^ 

Animals,  Bacon,  and  Pork 

24^ 

8 

32^ 

Cheese  and  Butter  - 

3 

3^ 

6^ 

The   I'ahie   (in    millions   of  pounds)   of  this 
annual  consumption  is  as  follows  : 

Home.  Foreign. 

Corn  and  Vegetable  Produce      125         65 
Wool  and  Animal  Produce          135         60 


260       125 

The  total  value  of  the  annual  consumption  of 
agricultural  produce  is  therefore  386  m. 

Food  supply.  The  corn  land  of  the  Kingdom, 
by  the  application  of  nitrate,  might  be  made  to 
produce  an  additional  wheat  crop,  instead  of  the 
usual  four-course  system  of  wheat,  turnips, 
barley,  and  clover.  If  all  Europe  were  closed 
to  us,  -jL  of  such  double-cropping  would  suffice 
to  neutralize  the  effect. 

The  corn  lands,  as   now   sown,   produce   26 


STATISTICS.  217 

bushels  to  the  acre,  but  with  improved  tillage 
they  might  be  easily  rendered  more  productive. 
Mr.  Lawes'  crop  is  36  bushels,  and  Canon  Stubbs 
states  that  the  allotments'  average  is  40.  The 
maximums  reach  as  high  as  60,  55,  and  57 
bushels  to  the  acre. 

Apart  from  the  corn  lands,  of  10  million  acres, 
we  have  25  million  acres  of  pasture  lands,  an 
immense  reserve  of  cereal  production,  and  more 
than  sufficient  to  keep  us  for  generations  in  the 
event  of  altogether  impossible  calamities. 

The  large  farm  system  embraces  nearly  twice 
the  proportion  of  corn  and  half  the  proportion 
of  green  crops  and  grass.  In  other  words  it  is 
doubly  dependent  on  the  price  of  corn  as  com- 
pared with  the  middle  class  farm  system  which 
relies  to  a  far  greater  extent  on  its  dairy  pro- 
duce, its  fat  cattle,  its  vegetables,  and  its  hay. 
The  result  is,  that  the  latter  pays  more  rent  or 
surplus  for  the  use  of  the  land,  and  a  higher  rate 
of  wages  to  the  labourer. 

Common  Lands.  The  area  of  England  and 
Wales  includes  about  37  million  acres.  Accord- 
ing to  the  estimates  of  the  Tithe  Commissioners 
in  1843  there  were  then  8  millions  of  common 
and  waste.  From  returns  made  to  Parliament 
in  1873  there  were  of  commons  capable  of  cul- 
tivation ^  of  a  million  acres,  of  commons 
apparently  mountain  or  otherwise  unsuitable  for 
cultivation  i^  m.  and  of  common-field  lands  % 
of  a  million,  giving  a  total  of  acres  subject  to 
common  rights  of  2^  millions.  This  is  known, 
however,  to  be  much  below  the  real  amount. 
A  more  correct  estimate  would  probably  be 
about  4  m.  acres. 

The  area  of  the  United  Kingdom  is  about 
7724  m.  acres,  and  only  about  50^  are  accounted 


2l8      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 


for  (in  corn,  green  crops,  grass,  &c.).  Upwards 
of  27  m.  acres  then  remain  for  land  covered  by 
orchards,  nursery  gardens,  market  gardens, 
buildings,  bogs,  moors,  lakes,  mountains,  and 
waste  lands,  much  of  it  capable  of  reclamation 
and  cultivation,  and  which  would  undoubtedly 
be  reclaimed  if  there  were  free  trade  in  land. 

WAGES  OF  AGRICULTURAL  LABOURERS. 

Sir  James  Caird  gives  the  following  : — 

In  1770.       1850.     1880. 

Rent  of  Land  per  acre  i$s.  27^.  30^. 
Wages  of  Labourer  ?s.  ^d.  QS.  *jd.  i^s. 

Rent  of  Cottage  8d.         is.  %d.        2s. 

Another  comparison  of  wages  may  be  given 
between  the  wages  paid  to  an  agricultural 
labourer  in  Cheshire,  England,  and  Massa- 
chusetts, United  States. 

1850.       1870.       1880. 

Wages  in  Cheshire  Qs.yd.       \^s.    \js.6d. 

„        „   Massachusetts     i6s.         2os.         2$s. 

The  Comparative  Importance  of  Agriculture 
as  compared  with  other  industrial  interests  in 
the  United  Kingdom  may  be  shewn  thus  : — 


Shipping 

Textile    and 

AGRICULTURE. 

and 

Hardware 

Merchandise 

Manufactures. 

Capital 

.£2,290  m. 

470 

Revenue 

263  m. 

600 

370 

Population  - 

3m. 

I 

W 

Wages 

£7, 

/47  or  32  and 

m  mines  15. 

STATISTICS. 


219 


TITHE-RENT  CHARGE. 

349  The  amount  per  annum  devoted  to  the      Tithe-Rent 
maintenance  of  the  Clergy  is  about  3  millions.   Charse- 
The  amount  paid  to  lay   Impropriators  is  800 
thousand,    and   to   Schools,    Colleges,    &c.,    200 
thousand. 

GLEBE  LANDS. 

350  The  area  of  Glebe  Lands  is  650  thousand     Glebe  Lands. 
acres,  producing  an  annual  rental  of  900  thousand 

pounds. 


HOSPITAL  COLLECTIONS. 

351  The  total  amounts  of  the  collections  on 
Hospital   Sundays  during   13    years   past   have 
been,  by  the  Church  of  England,  300  thousand 
pounds   in    London  and   400  thousand    in   the 
provinces.     By  other  denominations,  in  London, 
100  thousand,  and  in  the  provinces,  200  thousand  ; 
making  in  all  a  total  of  one  million  pounds. 

TRADE  UNIONS. 

352  Mr.  John  Burnett  gives  statistics  respect- 
ing six  of  the  principal  Trade   Unions,  shewing 
that  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  they 
paid  to  their  members  for  unemployed  benefits 
2^3  millions,  for  special  strike  benefits  ^  of  a 
million,  and  for  general  benefits  4^  m. 


CO-OPERATION. 
reports  of  the  Societies  for 


1884 


353  The 

shew  the  following  results  : — 

Distributive  Societies.  ^  m.  members, 
capital  10  m.,  reserve  %  m.,  annual  sales  31 
m.,  profit  2^  m.,  for  education  ^"20,000. 


H  o  s  p  i  t  a  1 
Collections. 


Trad 
Unions. 


C  o-o  p  e  r  a- 
tion. 


22O      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

Retail  Productive  Societies.  Capital  ^  m., 
buildings,  &c.  ^  m.  Annual  production  4  m. 

Wholesale  Productive  Societies.  Capital  I  m., 
sales  61/  m. 


Ten  Years, 
1877  - 1887,  in 
England  arid 
Wales. 


The  Depres- 
sion of  Trade. 


TEN  YEARS  (1877-1887)  IN  ENGLAND  AND 
WALES. 

354  The  average  number  of  scholars  attend- 
ing  primary   schools   has   increased   from    2^ 
millions  to  3^  m. 

The  number  of  prisoners  convicted  has  de- 
creased from  12  thousand  to  10^  thousand. 

The  capital  of  Post  Office  and  Trustee 
Savings  Banks  has  increased  from  63  m.  to 
83^  m. 

The  number  of  paupers  has  increased  from 
742  thousand  to  817  thousand,  and  the  amount 
spent  on  relief  of  paupers  from  7^  m.  to  8^  m. 

During  this  same  period  the  population  in 
England  and  Wales  increased  from  24^  m.  to 
28^  m. 

The  weekly  returns  of  Metropolitan  pauperism 
in  December  1888,  shew  a  total  of  100  thousand 
paupers,  of  which  60  are  Indoor,  and  remaining 
40  in  receipt  of  Outdoor  relief.  The  population 
of  the  Metropolis  in  1881  was  3,815,000. 

THE  DEPRESSION  OF  TRADE. 

355  Dr.  Wallace  suggests  four  causes  to  ac- 
count for  it. 

I.  The  excessive  amount  of  foreign  loans 
made  about  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago. 

II.  The  enormous  increase  of  war  expend- 
iture  by   all  the  countries   of  Europe  about 
the  same  time. 

III.  The  vast  increase  of  speculation  as  a 


STATISTICS.  221 

means  of  living,  and  the  consequent  increase 
of  millionaires  in  this  country. 

IV.  The  most  important  result  of  our 
vicious  land  system,  as  seen  in  the  depopula- 
tion of  the  rural  districts  and  the  over  popula- 
tion of  the  towns. 

The  new  debts  created  between  1863  and  1875 
were  by  France  500  m.,  Italy,  200,  Russia  400, 
Turkey  200,  Egypt  80,  Tunis  7,  Central  and 
South  America  73,  making  a  total  of  about 
.£1,500  m.  England  probably  lent  half  of  this 
amount,  besides  an  enormous  sum  in  railways 
and  other  foreign  investments  or  speculations. 

During  the  years  1874-1883  the  increased  war 
expenditures  in  Europe  were  in  Great  Britain 
from  24  m.  up  to  30,  Austria  from  7  up  to  13^, 
France  18  up  to  35^,  Germany  17  up  to 
20,  Italy  9  up  to  19,  Russia  20  up  to  30.  The 
total  of  these  shews  that  whereas  up  to  1874 
these  six  great  nations  spent  96  m.  a  year  on 
their  warlike  material  and  expenditure,  in  1883 
they  spent  1 50  m.  Here  was  an  increase  of  54 
m.  sterling,  all  newly  added  to  the  taxation  of 
these  countries,  the  most  utterly  unproductive 
taxation  that  it  is  possible  to  conceive. 

The  European  armies  have  increased  since 
1870  by  630  thousand  men.  The  present  total 
is  more  than  $y2  m.  of  men,  and  this  is  a  peace 
establishment.  Probably  another  3^  m.  are 
engaged  in  the  service  of  the  actual  army, 
making  7  m.  These  six  great  powers  have 
increased  their  annual  expenditure  by  £266  m. 
from  1 870  to  1884. 

As  England  supplies  goods  to  almost  every 
nation  in  the  world,  it  does  not  matter  where  the 
war  is,  one  thing  is  certain,  that  a  considerable 
number  of  our  customers  are  killed  and  a  much 


222      THE   LAND   AND   THE   COMMUNITY. 

larger  number  are  impoverished.  Just  consider. 
In  1872  we  had  the  great  Franco- German  war  ; 
in  1875,  the  Ashantee  war;  in  1878  the  terrible 
Russo-Turkish  war;  in  1879  and  1880  the 
Transvaal  and  Zulu  wars ;  in  1881  the  Afghan 
war;  in  1883  the  Egyptian  war;  in  1884-85 
the  Soudan  war ;  and  since  then  the  French 
Tonquin  war,  and  then  the  Mahdi  war.  Since 
then  we  have  had  the  Burmese  war,  and  the 
renewal  of  the  Soudan  war.  Every  one  of 
these  wars  kills  or  impoverishes  our  customers. 

With  regard  to  the  fourth  cause,  it  is  a  very 
estimate  to  consider  that  what  may  be 
called  the  normal  increase  of  people  dwelling  in 
the  country  was  17  per  cent,  during  the  ten 
years  from  1871  to  1881.  The  diminution  of 
inhabitants  in  the  rural  districts  amounts  to  300 
thousand.  Taking  into  account  the  increase  of 
17  per  cent,  the  effective  diminution  amounts  to 
nearly  one  million.  Add  to  this  the  people 
who  have  emigrated,  and  the  result  is  that  I  ^ 
m.  have  migrated  out  of  the  county  districts 
into  the  towns.  The  consequences  of  this  migra- 
tion are  seen  in  the  increased  importation  of 
articles  of  food  which  the  rural  inhabitants 
would  have  supplied.  Thus,  from  1870  to  1883, 
the  imports  of  bacon  and  pork  rose  from  ^  of  a 
million  cwts.  up  to  5m.;  of  potatoes,  ^  of  a 
million  cwts.  up  to  4  m.  ;  of  eggs,  430  m.  up  to 
800  m. 

From  the  reports  of  the  Registrar  General 
for  London,  it  is  found  that  the  average  number 
of  deaths  in  workhouses  and  hospitals  each  year, 
has  increased  to  30  per  cent,  more  in  1881  than 
it  was  in  1872,  and  this  increase  of  the  destitute 
in  these  ten  years  means  the  addition  of  107 
thousand  to  tha  destitute  poor  of  London. 


STATISTICS.  223 

It  is  estimated  that,  for  every  hundred  acres 
of  land  converted  from  arable  into  pasture,  two 
labourers  must  be  discharged  ;  and  as  at  least  a 
million  acres  have  been  so  converted  between 
1873  and  1884,  that  means  that  20,000  labourers 
and  their  families  were  discharged  for  this  one 
cause  alone.  The  average  produce  of  arable 
land  is  £10  $s.  per  acre,  of  pasture  land  £1  gs. 
per  acre  ;  consequently  there  was  a  loss  of 
£8  i6s.  on  every  acre  converted.  The  change 
means  profit  to  the  landlord,  but  it  also  means 
ruin  to  the  country.  It  means  nearly  £9  m.  of 
annual  loss  to  the  country  by  this  million  acres 
converted. 

Lord  Carrington  has  stated  that  the  average 
produce  of  his  allotments  in  the  hands  of 
labourers  is  ^33  an  acre  more  than  the  produce 
of  the  same  land  in  farms.  A  Government 
Commission  in  1868  reported  that  the  average 
produce  of  such  allotments  all  over  the  country 
was  £14  an  acre  more  than  that  of  farms.  A 
clergyman  in  Buckinghamshire  has  let  out  his 
glebe  lands  in  allotments  of  an  acre  or  half- acre 
to  labourers,  and  an  experience  of  nine  years 
shews  that  they  produce  £4.  los.  an  acre  more 
than  the  surrounding  farms.  If  only  twenty  of 
the  fifty  millions  of  acres  of  cultivable  land — a 
considerable  part  of  which  is  now  going  out  of 
cultivation — were  thus  cultivated  by  poor  men 
in  this  minute  and  careful  manner,  and  they  ob- 
tained on  an  average  £10  an  acre  of  increased 
produce,  that  would  give  us  £200  m.  a  year  of 
extra  wealth  produced  by  poor  men,  and  which 
would  be  spent  in  sustaining  the  manufactures 
of  the  country. 


UVJUU 


